the Work of the Pre- Dr Valerie Shrimplin Raphaelite Brother (and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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the Work of the Pre- Dr Valerie Shrimplin Raphaelite Brother (and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Apr 23, 2023 217 likes •663 views

Astronomical Im Imagery ry in in the Work of the Pre- Dr Valerie Shrimplin Raphaelite Brother (and Gresham College London, England Sis ister) hood Background The Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood Founders and aims (Holman Hunt,

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Astronomical Im Imagery ry in in the Work of the Pre- Raphaelite Brother (and Sis ister) hood

Dr Valerie Shrimplin Gresham College London, England

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Overview

  • Background – The Pre Raphaelite

Brotherhood

  • Founders and aims (Holman Hunt,

Millais and Rossetti)

  • Astronomy and Art in work of the PRB
  • Later artists
  • George Frederick Watts
  • Arthur Hughes
  • Edward Burne-Jones
  • Evelyn de Morgan
  • Edward Hughes
  • Themes: sun/creation, moon, stars
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Who were they, what did they do, what interested them? William Holman Hunt, 1827-1910; John Everett Millais, 1829-96; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-82 Aimed at purer simpler art forms, by looking back to proto-Renaissance and Quattrocento Emphasised detailed observation of the natural world (scientific precision) Almost religious-like devotion to truth

The Pre Raphaelites Founded 1848

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Stated aims in manifesto/ declarations

To have genuine ideas to express To study Nature attentively in order to facilitate such expression To sympathise with what is direct, serious and heartfelt – excluding the conventional And, most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures ….

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Strongly influenced by the spirituality of medieval art Disliked Raphael (1483 - 1520); the ‘Grand Manner’ and Mannerists of the 16th century Rebelled against the very formal Royal Academy (1768, Joshua Reynolds) Observation of nature, scientific study botany, biology, geology, geography – astronomy John Ruskin (1819-1900). Expanded into Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau

Influences

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Holman Hunt, The Scapegoat 1854-56 (Lady Lever Gallery; and smaller Manchester version)

Symbolic of suffering Messiah, sun beating down (Leviticus)

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John Everett Millais, Blind Girl, 1856 Photographs show inversion of colours

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Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Dantis Amor, 1860 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, L’Amor che muove il sole e l’altre stelle - study

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Astronomy as example of f

  • bserv

rvation of f nature and the study of f science

Astronomy as one of many sources of inspiration that members of the PRB derived from nature Many Pre-Raphaelites were fascinated by the night sky and used astronomical symbolism to express their ideas Did they include contemporary astronomical thinking and discoveries?

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Leading and later Pre-Raphaelites whose works included astronomical, and cosmic imagery

1817–1904

Early proponent George Frederick Watts

1832–1915

Arthur Hughes

1833–1898

Edward Burne-Jones

1839–1917

Evelyn De Morgan (née Pickering)

1851-1917

Edward Hughes

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George Frederick Watts (1817-1904)

After the Deluge, 1885-92 The moment the sun reappears after the Flood. Watts felt it impossible to depict the Creator … that is exactly what I could wish to make those who look at the picture conceive for themselves. The hand

  • f the Creator moving by light and

by heat to re-create. I have not tried to paint a portrait of the sun – such a thing is unpaintable – but to impress you with the idea of its enormous power.

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Chaos, or Chaos passing to Cosmos, 1873-75 (also sometimes called Creation)

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Progress, 1888-1904 Sun Earth and their Daughter Moon, 1899-1902

G F Watts, Later works

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The Sower of the Systems, c 1902

  • Fascinated by astronomy, astrology and star-

gazing; admiration of scientists ‘dwelling in a kingdom of infinite wonder’

  • Vision of creation of the cosmos – a robed

faceless figure, sweeping across space, a swirl of stars and nebulae – centrifugal forces of creation

  • Influenced by early long-distance

astronomical photos (had observed the rings

  • f Saturn via Sir James South’s telescope) –

‘a sight that dwarfed all others’. Verges on the abstract

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Watts Gallery – Artists' Village Compton, near Guildford in Surrey.

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Arthur Hughes (1832- 1915)

Nocturnal scenes Caedmon’s Awakening 1912-14 [Earliest English poet fl 657–684]

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Arthur Hughes Carmina Nuptialia, 1869 [16th century ‘nuptial songs’]

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Arthur Hughes Sir Galahad, 1870

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Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98)

Burne-Jones, Star of Bethlehem

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Burne Jones, Night 1870

I AM NIGHT AND BRING AGAIN HOPE OF PLEASURE REST FROM PAIN THOUGHTS UNSAID TWIXT LIFE AND DEATH MY FRUITFUL SILENCE QUICKENETH

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Burne Jones Evening Star, 1870 (cf Botticelli detail of Birth of Venus, c 1480) Burne Jones, Night, 1870 (cf Botticelli detail of Primavera, 1482)

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East window, Sir Edward Burne- Jones (made by William Morris) Crucifixion, Ascension

St James’s Church, Stavely, Cumbria 1864-5

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Burne Jones Luna 1870s

Is the moon tired? she looks so pale Within her misty veil: She scales the sky from east to west, And takes no rest. Before the coming of the night The moon shows papery white; Before the dawning of the day She fades away. From : Christina Rossetti (1830-94) Sing Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book 1872

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Days of Creation, 1870-76, Fogg Art Museum

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Religious subjects in nocturnal settings

Burne Jones Jacob's-Ladder-small

Burne Jones, The First Marriage and Jacob’s Ladder

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Evelyn De Morgan (née Pickering, 1839-1917)

  • Depiction of astronomical features, especially the moon
  • Victorian sentimentality about sun, moon and stars …
  • And/or more serious underlying themes and scientific

influences?

  • Follower of Burne-Jones, married to William De Morgan (Arts

and Crafts movement)

  • Well-educated, involved in women’s education and suffragettes
  • Father-in-law, Augustus de Morgan - well-known mathematician

and astronomer (named crater on the moon; tutor to Ada Lovelace)

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Evelyn De Morgan Dawn and Dusk, 1886

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Evelyn De Morgan Evening Star

  • ver the Sea

(1900-19)

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Evelyn De Morgan (c 1900-19)

Night and Dawn (night crouching below moon and stars)

Twilight - ‘light from the sky when sun below the horizon’ Sunbeam and Summer Shower

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Moonbeams Dipping into the Sea, 1900 Sleeping Earth and Wakening Moon, 1900 Sleep, Death and the Children of the Night, 1883

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Symbolism of material or spiritual worlds

Earthbound, 1897 Worship of Mammon, 1909

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  • Accurate depiction of astronomical

features in art?

  • More about Victorian sentimentality
  • Ropes seem to be … that bind the

moon to the earth – in a daily round But

  • Underlying astronomical themes –

looked upwards in a way not done before?

  • Scientific influences? well-educated
  • Links to Augustus De Morgan and

Ada Lovelace

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Edward Hughes (1851-1917)

Influenced by Arthur Hughes and William Holman Hunt

Hughes, The Weary Moon, c 1900

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Night with her Train of Stars 1912

The sun/ Closing his benediction/ Sinks, and the darkening air/ Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night— Night with her train of stars/ And her great gift of sleep (poem by Margaritae Sorori)

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Night with her train of stars (detail)

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Edward Hughes Night

[sold at Christies 2004]

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Princess Ariadne of Crete helped Theseus defeat the Minotaur. They sailed off together but he abandoned her on Naxos. The god Dionysus found her weeping and fell in love. At their marriage, Ariadne wore a crown/circlet of stars which she tossed into the sky, where the crown became the constellation Corona Borealis

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Francesco Cozza, Allegory of Astronomy, 1670 (Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro) Simon Vouet, The Muses Urania and Calliope, 1634 (NGA Washington)

With thanks to Professor Ron Olowin for source material

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Jean-François Millet, Nuit Étoilée, 1850-65 Karl Nordström (1855-1923) Nuit étoilée

More Scientific Comparisons

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Conclusions (T (Thoughts and ideas)

Astronomical features in the work of the PRB and its followers Different, more naturalistic (scientific?) approach than before Especially featuring sun, moon, stars Role of educated female artists in the late 19th century Showing links to observation and astronomy at the time?