When we hear about the Pre-Raphaelites, the dreamy images and romantic brushstrokes of William Waterhouse, Hughes, Hunt, and Millais come to mind. The artistic movement that marked the period of Decadentism is on stage at the Palazzo Reale in Milan from June 19 to October 6, 2019.
The Pre-Raphaelites were founded in 1848 in Victorian England during a period of great moral diligence and loyalty to the Crown’s rise to power. Thus, an artistic revolution was born that would lay the framework for other revolutionaries of the Decadent Movement, such as the great Oscar Wilde. Pre-Raphaelism not only arose as an artistic movement but as a social and cultural one as well, whose aim was to rediscover the customs of a nostalgic past linked to beauty, history, and a world found in folklore.
Within their brushstrokes, we find not only an imaginative and dreamy world but also references to timely social issues, such as a critique of capitalism that renders it guilty of erasing the beauty of the world and vulgarizing art. The Middle Ages, the Bible, and European landscapes are the subjects found most frequently in the style of these Renaissance figures’ works that refer to an even stronger sense of enchantment.
This exhibition, open to the public until October 6th of this year, is curated by Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art at the Tate in London and brings together eighteen Pre-Raphaelite artists in eighty works including “l’Ofelia” by John Everett Millais and the “Lady of Shalott” by John William Waterhouse. These works are not only properly displayed but follow a path divided into thematic sections, so that visitors can further explore the ideals, styles and spirit of Pre-Raphaelism. Here, you can immerse yourself in the ”l’Ofelia” of Millais and in the artistic and symbolic English pictorial movement that we love and admire for its unique charms.
Prior to entering the exhibition of the Pre-Raphaelites, allow yourselves be captivated by the beauty, romance, colors and stories that each painting carries with it.