The aim of this blog is to serve as a meeting point to those who study or have studied English philology and, more broadly, to all those who love literature and language.

19 Apr 2009

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in Madrid

Francis Bacon is not the only opportunity the Museo del Prado is offering this season to those interested in British arts and culture.
In a smaller format, the exhibition Sleeping Beauty (open until 31 may of 2009), features seventeen works by major artists of Victorian Britain, a little represented school in Spanish museums. They have been lent by the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico.
The exhibition includes works by artists such as John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Coley Burne-Jones, dating from different phases of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais in an attempt to rediscover the authenticity they felt painting had lost since the time of Raphael. Their works were often inspired by literary and historical themes, approached with a high degree of seriousness and representing moments of intense emotion.
Among the paintings featured in this exhibition I would like to underline The last sleep of Arthur in Avalon by Edward Coley Burne-Jones, a painting of big dimensions, inspired by the last scene of Thomas Malory's Morte d’Arthur.
The encounter with the Arthurian cycle, in Thomas Malory’s version of Morte d’Arthur, proved a real revelation for the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and it impressed its literary and romantic seal on many of their works.

2 comments:

  1. Wow! That´s a 180º turn from what I posted just a few hours ago, but I like it. I´ve always been a fan of Pre-Raphaelite painters, whose work was obscured and thrown into oblivion by the rest of 19th century movements such as Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism and the like. Great post!

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  2. I also visited that exhibition last month. 'The last sleep of Arthur in Avalon' is an impressive picture both in size and detail. I also liked a much smaller version of the same topic, also exhibited in the same room. I found it even more suggestive.

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