The Pre-Raphaelites: Colour Library

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood had a dynamic influence upon the Victorian era. The painters, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, fought against an increasing mechanized society to establish the artist as a creative individual, attempting to raise art from the triviality into which it had fallen. This commitment was combined with a love of literature and history, and in particular a passionate interest in the art preceding the period of Raphael and the great Renaissance masters, an art which seemed to mirror their aims. Moreover, their ambitions encouraged artists in all fields to adopt new aesthetics.

Andrea Rose, formerly Deputy Keeper of Art at Birmingham City Art Gallery, is Head of the Visual Art Department of the British Council.