The moment I saw this painting, of course I recognized it as a lovely example of Pre-Raphaelite art- the long, tall figures, the attention to detail, the matte face color, the long fabrics, the minute drawing of female blonde hair 😀 Myself and the Pre-Raphaelites go back a long time! The first time I heard of them was when I read Rosamunde Pilcher's novel The Shell Seekers. Then I discovered John William Waterhouse, who painted the amazing mermaids. During my English Literature degree, I saw Pre-Raphaelite pictures of Ophelia. A book about Jane Morris, the famous Pre-Raphaelite model, was the first book I read for my PhD. Cornwall, where I was at the time, has a long tradition with Pre-Raphaelite art!
So it is with understandable pride that I am posing here with this painting by Jacques Wagrez. I didn't know there were French Pre-Raphs to be honest. The painting is at CVAR, the cultural foundation I visited last Saturday, and shows Ekaterini Cornaro (Αικατερίνη Κορνάρο) Queen of Cyprus in medieval times.
I was dismayed when the expert guest on a BBC Radio 4 program about the naming of art movements had no idea who coined the term Pre-Raphaelite. Reluctantly he said it might have been Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He also called the Pre-Raphaelite movement as a historicist mish-mash, not a spiritual movement but a group of enthusiastic young men developing a brand.
😡
😡
Anyway! The Pre-Raphs indeed appeared at an age where art entered the market place as a commodity. (Yet wasn't it often so, even in the Renaissance?).
Have a good time for mid-week! Xxx <3 <3 <3
P.S. The not very well informed expert guest was right: the term was indeed coined by Rossetti, founder and leader of the movement.
P.S. The not very well informed expert guest was right: the term was indeed coined by Rossetti, founder and leader of the movement.
No comments:
Post a Comment