Description

Lund Humphries 1st 1995
large 4to, black bds with silver titling to spine F/F 765 gms 
(Order reference 14956).

Much has been written about the Pre-Raphaelites and their roles as potent forces in the history of British art. They were essentially a small group of very young artists who, dissatisfied with the current styles and techniques of painting, saw the need for a return to early Italian models and methods. This reactionary view they held with all the dedication of their youth. To help propagate their ideals, the Pre-Raphaelites turned to the populist medium of the print: they created original etchings, drew and engraved book illustrations, and sanctioned reproductive engravings after their work. These, they rightly believed, would popularise their style and spread the Pre-Raphaelite message to a larger audience. Exhibitions of Pre-Raphaelite paintings were organised to help promote sales of the engravings by subscription, and with the help and encouragement of the press these engravings became an integral part of middle-class Britain. Subscribers were drawn from a wide spectrum of the population: workmen marvelled at Holman Hunt's Christ in the Carpenter's Shop and bought copies with their meagre wages; love-struck couples sought out the romantic subjects of Millais, while the pious admirers of Holman Hunt's The Light of the World ensured that it became one of the best-selling Pre-Raphaelite prints ever produced.