$ROMANTICISM IN THE 19TH CENTURY The Romantics revolted against the Napoleonic Neo-Classical formula. They chose to follow their hearts, to abandon moderation for excess, and sacrifice order for spontaneity and impulse. The Neo-Classicists had assumed that a perfect order existed, though not always apparent, in the minds of man. The Romantics assumed nothing, but understood and appreciated the mortality of man and his passion for life. In a world filled with revolution and change, corruption and dissension, the development of such an emotional representation in the arts is expected. Jean Jacques Rousseau had preached in the late 18th Century for a return to nature and the rights of the individual. The Romantics set about experiencing the world and painting from their hearts. Their favourite subjects were the tragic, violent, passionate, mystical, poetic, or nostalgic. Their colours were bold and vivid, sometimes even raw. The Romantic Movement entailed music and literature as well as the visual arts. This movement sought also to explore the primitive roots of society, the medieval and Gothic foundations of Europe, to discover the truly Natural man rather than the models based on Classical forms. The early Romantic painters, Gericault, Delacroix, Goya and Turner, explored the forces of nature or the passions of man in struggle. Then as the social revolution of the 19th Century progressed the Social Realists like Courbet and Millet, made beginnings in drawing attention to the nobility of the lower classes of people in society. Side by side with this growing political awareness in art, artists also explored the mysteries of nature, expressing the longing to go back to the age of innocence and union with nature: a growing sense of nostalgia became a conscious aim in art. This part of the Romantic movement led to artists like Blake, Friedrich, and eventually to the English Pre-Raphaelites. · The Pre-Raphaelites · Born from their distaste of the present, the ugliness of the Industrial Revolution, the social abuses, and vulgar elegance of the Victorian era, these artists were obsessed with the past. The Pre-Raphaelites consciously rejected the over-varnished, sombre tones of contemporary Academy painters who modelled their art on the triumph of Raphael and the High Renaissance. Instead, the Pre-Raphaelites sought to go back in time, before Raphael, to recapture the bright colours and clear lines of the Quattrocento period, and even to capture the vitality of Gothic traditions of the Middle Ages. Their attempt had been scorned by art critics: these painters did not add anything new to the formal rules of art nor the treatment of subject, and, furthermore, this new art was seen as excessively sentimental. Major artists of this movement were: Rossetti, Millais, Hunt, Waterhouse, and Burne-Jones. #GERICAULT 1791-1824 Gericault made his debut with the Salon of Paris with Romantic paintings depicting strong violent actions within tragic events; sensational works which fitted the revolutionary mood of the period. His works inspired the next generation of Romantic painters. *801 Gericault RAFT OF MEDUSA 1818 Louvre, Paris. Fifteen men from the ship, Medusa, were abandoned by their officers in the Atlantic Ocean, to the horror of the French public. Gericault recorded this event with detailed scientific accuracy, interviewing the survivors and exhuming bodies to better understand the nature of the event: the beginning of art as social comment in the 19th Century. The composition centres round a strong diagonal leading to the far upper right where away in the horizon, a speck of rescue is seen. #DELACROIX 1798-1863 Eugene Delacroix and Gericault were the founding artists of the Romantic movement. Studying at the Eide des Beaux Arts, in Paris, he met Gericault, who was already working in a completely individual form of artistic expression. Delacroix began keeping a journal of all his thoughts, ideas and experiences: this journal to be the basis of individual responses to reality. He wrote, sketched and painted furiously. These records were to provide him with inspiration for the rest of his life. Colour was his love and passion. In his trip to Morocco in 1832, Delacroix was intoxicated by the brilliant light and red colour of North Africa. Obsessed by his own sensuality, Delacroix found his works shocked and disturbed as well as fired the imagination of much of his public. It is hard to imagine the physical effort this man put into the tasks he set for himself, as his commissions were frequently monumental in size. Every painting necessitated endless sketches and preparation designs. *802 Delacroix THE MASSACRE OF CHIOS 1824 Louvre, Paris. This painting commemorates the Greek War of Liberation in which 20,000 Greeks were slaughtered by the Turks on the small island of Chios. This event captured the imagination of Romantics throughout Europe: the autocratic Turkish Empire against the intensely nationalistic Greeks, was a symbol of Romantic Nationalistic struggles for the rest of the 19th Century. Delacroix made a number of detailed studies in preparation for this work, including sketches of oriental costumes and Persian miniatures. The image he chose to capture on canvas was the brutality of the Turks to the Greeks represented by the suffering and wounded grouping in the foreground. There is no central focal point, rather chaos as light and shadows play across the figures in strong contrast and a wide range of colours excites the eye. This development in handling colour as well as the immense sky, Delacroix owed to Constable, the English landscape painter. *803 Delacroix LIBERTY LEADING THE PEOPLE 1830 The Louvre, Paris. The successful 1830 July Revolution was an inspiration to Romantics in Europe to overthrow autocracy everywhere. Delacroix did not take part but felt as an artist he had to record it. The compositional elements are explained by strong contrasting colour. The figure of liberty forms the apex of a triangle, topped by the red, white and blue flag. The youth beside her, symbolizing the young leaders of the future, is silhouetted against the smoke of the burning city behind. *804 Delacroix THE ABDUCTION OF REBECCA 1846 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The theme has been taken from an episode in Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. A castle burns in the distance while two slaves kidnap the beautiful Jewess for the Knight Templar, Bois-Guilbert. The violent action is created by form, colour and line in motion. Sources of light are various and used for the purpose of highlighting where necessary. Shadows contain a new nucleus in complementary colours, something Delacroix discovered in his most impressionable trip to Algiers. But this is not a painting of specific characters, but rather a representation of the emotional complexity of man and his passions. All the formulas of classical composition are sacrificed for this purpose. *805 Delacroix DEATH OF SARDANAPALUS 1827 Louvre, Paris. The Assyrian king, Sardanapalus, has ordered his own death, and the death of his court, including his concubines, on his defeat. Delacroix creates a contrast between the sensuality of the courtesans and the violence of the massacre. Nobility caught in decadence and corruption were popular themes among the rising middle classes of Post-Revolutionary Europe. #COURBET 1819-1877 Gustav Courbet came to Paris at the age of 20 and struggled for years to gain recognition. After the 1848 Revolution, he became the leader of the Realist School of the Romantic period. These artists believed that the everyday life of man in the contemporary world was the most fitting subject for painters and writers alike, rather than traditional noble, religious or mythological subjects. Paintings were frequently constructed from two or three separate realities to suit his favour. But the details are always painted with a huge degree of realism and magnificently rendered. *806 Courbet DESPAIR 1840 Private Collection, Paris Courbet painted this dramatic expression of his feverish state. The sombre colouring and dramatic triumph of light over shadows recalls the works of Velasquez and Gericault, whose influence he felt. *807 Courbet SELF-PORTRAIT WITH A BLACK DOG 1842 Petit Palais, Paris. Courbet was fascinated with his own image, which amazed and charmed his contemporaries. He used his mirror to measure and express the new discoveries with the old which he experienced. *808 Courbet TWO GIRLS ON THE SEINE 1856 Petite Palais, Paris. The richness of the paint and the delightful rendering of fresh cool, green vegetation and the soft, languid flesh of the two ladies all demonstrate Courbet's sensual love of life. This work shocked the Paris audience. Half undressed, the lady in the foreground stretched out on the riverbank, challenges the viewer with her sleepy gaze, quite a contrast to the classical idealization of Ingres' Comptesse d'Haussonville. *809 Courbet WOMAN WITH A PARROT 1866 This picture pleased the academic painters but was considered compromising by his disciples, and old supporters. The pose is both theatrical and full of props which contradicts its realism. But the sheer beauty of the rendering of the model's flesh and the tussle of hair is masterful. *810 Courbet THE PAINTER'S STUDIO 1855 Louvre, Paris. Subtitled 'A true allegory summarizing a period of seven years of my life as an artist', Courbet presents himself at the easel painting a lyrical landscape. To the left, are the old and the poor, the labourer and the Jew. To the right his friends including Beaudelaire and Proudhon and other acquaintances he made in Paris. This enormous painting was rejected by the Salon for the Exposition Universelle of 1855. Courbet was determined to match the works of Ingres and Delacroix so he had a special pavilion constructed, the Pavilion of Realism, which was unfortunately a flop. But Delacroix was suitably impressed. #GOYA 1746-1828 The individualist Romantic, Francisco de Goya, influenced not only future generations of artists in his land but some of the greatest artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Goya was appointed First Painter to the King, Charles II, his favour and popularity grew. He devoted himself to his favourite work: portraits and imaginative compositions. But this was not a stable time politically: in 1808 Napoleon's armies took over Spain and Joseph, Napoleon's brother, took the throne. This caused serious rioting in Madrid and led to a bloody civil war. Goya was appalled by the horrors and war and completed a book of etching and painted many works commemorating the Disasters of War. A serious illness at he age of 46 left him permanently deaf. This affected his work and it became dark and sombre, sometimes bizarre and morbid. *811 Goya DON MANUEL DE ZUNIGA 1788 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The innocence of this child is exaggerated by the contrast of the sinister cats behind him, waiting to pounce on the magpie, held by the young Don Manuel on a string. The bird holds a note in its beak with the artist's signature on his left, a cage full of colourful birds suggests the trappings of life which are in store for this young spirit. The bold red of his clothing, and contrasting sombre shadows behind recall Goya's admiration of Rembrandt and Velasquez. *812 Goya THE DUCHESS OF ALBA 1797 Hispanic Society of America, New York. Goya and his relationship with the widowed Duchess of Alba is perhaps one of the most celebrated controversies in the history of art. He painted her portraits many times. The Duchess is dressed as a Maja. Her gesture affirms Goya's feelings for her. She points to the words, Solo Goya, written in the sand. In a soft, pastel Andalusian landscape Goya, chose to present the Duchess in black, red and gold: revealing a flirtatious personality. *813 Goya THE CLOTHED MAJA 1798-1805 Prado, Madrid. Goya searched for the painted image which would make a statement with directness and immediacy. He strove to define the mass on first impact, without obscuring this with details. His ideal was to capture and record the vividness and truth of an image. A legend developed that the Duchess of Alba posed for Goya in these studies. Goya's rendering of the nude is audacious and matter-of-fact in the nakedness of the model. But the Clothed Maja, with her filmy, satin, clinging gown is more suggestively stark and realistic than Ingres' Bather of Valpincon or Courbet's Nude with a Parrot. *814 Goya THE NAKED MAJA 1798-1805 Prado, Madrid. Goya searched for the painted image which would make a statement with directness and immediacy. He strove to define the mass on first impact, without obscuring this with details. His ideal was to capture and record the vividness and truth of an image. A legend developed that the Duchess of Alba posed for Goya in these studies. Goya's rendering of the nude is audacious and matter-of-fact in the nakedness of the model. But the Clothed Maja, with her filmy, satin, clinging gown is more suggestively stark and realistic than Ingres' Bather of Valpicon or Courbet's Nude with a Parrot. *816 Goya THE COLOSSUS 1808 Prado Museum, Madrid. Goya painted many canvasses commemorating the uprising in 1808 of the citizens of Madrid against the French. In this unusually bizarre work, a giant looms over the people who flee from the French. His vision was probably inspired by a Spanish poet who wrote "on a height above that cavernous amphitheatre, a pale Colossus rises, caught by the fiery light of the setting sun". *817 Goya TIME AND THE OLD WOMAN c.1812 Musee des Beaux Arts, Paris. Two old emaciated Majas, hold up a mirror on which is inscribed Que tal? Overdressed and heavily laden with jewels, the pair turn their backs on Father Time hovering above. *818 Goya 1808 THIRD OF MAY 1814 Prado, Madrid. French troops defeated the Spanish king and conquered Spain, making Spain directly part of the Empire. The Spanish began to realize their own national pride and fought for their independence. Goya here captures the horrors of war on the Spanish, whom he makes innocent. The central figure is dressed in white, kneeling in a cruciform, and made larger than the other figures to create a Christ-like comparison. He is contrasted with the faceless soldiers to accent the horror of the executions. *819 Goya WHAT COURAGE! c.1810-1815 A collection of 80 plates called the Disasters of War drawn and etched by Goya, was made to denounce the war by recording the horrors and truths of battle and the aftermath. It was never published in his lifetime, perhaps because the impact would have been so great as to endanger his life. The captions are: What courage! and And it can't be helped. *820 Goya IT CAN'T BE HELPED c.1810-1815 A collection of 80 plates called the Disasters of War drawn and etched by Goya, was made to denounce the war by recording the horrors and truths of battle and the aftermath. It was never published in his lifetime, perhaps because the impact would have been so great as to endanger his life. The captions are: What courage! and And it can't be helped. #TURNER 1775-1851 Joseph Mallord William Turner created the fullest expression of the Romantic spirit in landscape art. In England, by the middle of the 19th Century, landscape painting again became the preferred subject matter. He managed to reduce the elements of earth, water, air and fire to near abstractions of the subject matter. He exaggerated natural features, especially in their movements. The sky and the sea form together in a swirl of colour and line. As he matured, his role became more violent, the landscape equivalent of Delacroix's Romantic renderings of battles and massacres. His application of paint was spontaneous, applied in bold fashion to the surface of the canvas. The swirl or vortex dominated his later compositions, suggesting the power and energy of the natural elements. His work anticipates the great expressionist works of the next century. *821 Turner THE FIGHTING TEMERAINE 1838 National Gallery, London. This second vessel of the British fleet under Nelson's command fought in the battle of Trafalgar. After years of gallant service, she is to be demolished. Turner captures the strong national feelings associated with this image. The Temeraine appears ghostly white, a shadow of its fighting self, and the steamer tug, in contrast is dark and overpowering. The sunset is symbolic of the end of its voyage. But it also creates, with glowing reds and golds, heightened further by the contrasting blue-purples on the horizon, a dramatic emotional finale to the great fighting career. *822 Turner ROCKETS AND BLUE LIGHTS 1840 Sterling and Francis Clark Institute, Massachusets. A storm-swept beach bearing a few onlookers is set ablaze with flares and blue lights to forewarn the passing steamers of the danger of the sandbanks. The furious waves are a mass of white brushstrokes and the sky is filled with the tussle of the wind as smoke billows from the stacks of the steamships. *823 Turner DAWN AFTER THE WRECK 1840 Watercolour, Courtauld Gallery, London. This small watercolour is brilliant in the strength of suggestion. The repeated horizontal lines of the blue horizon and shoreline create an eerie calm indicated by the howling dog and faint sickly moon, the only hint of a terrible storm and drama of the night which has now past. *824 Turner RAIN STEAM AND SPEED 1844 National Gallery, London. Turner was very thorough in his study for any work. For this work, he is said to have ridden in the train with his head stuck out a window during a storm. The suggestion of driving rain is seen in the surface application of the pale wash. The movement of the rushing train is forced upon the viewer with the perspective and strong contrasting diagonal lines running into the bottom right corner. Earth, water and sky are dissolved in light and are distinguished only by colour changes. *825 Turner SNOW STORM 1841 National Gallery, London. Turner's work moved increasingly towards depictions of the strength and violence of nature. The raging sea meets a snow-filled sky, the steamship is barely visible, water and air are hardly distinguishable. The effect is to impress the viewer with the violent movement of the raging storm. The contrasting light and dark bring the eye to the centre of vortex created by the swirl of paint and line. #BLAKE 1757-1827 William Blake was one of England's most individualistic Romantic artists. His spiritual works received little attention among his contemporaries but they became popular later in the century. Blake's revolutionary personal style developed from his trade as an engraver and through his unique imagination led him into watercolour book illustrations and poetry. He was often criticized as being untrained and crude. However, his work is more than daring, he was able successfully to turn a mental image into a visual reality imbued with ethereal truths. *826 Blake PITY LIKE A NEW-BORNE BABE 1795 Monoprint, Tate Gallery, London. The subject is an imaginative visualization of lines from Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act I, Scene 7. Though the main figures are sculpturally rounded, the artist has rendered the hair, clothing and galloping horses in lineal style. He has reinterpreted the swiftness of the horses and the suspension of the riders from words to visual metaphors. *827 Blake GOOD AND EVIL 1795 Tate Gallery, London. Here Blake symbolizes the struggle of good and evil as two angels fighting for control of the innocent child. God is portrayed as light from the sun and the purifying baptismal waters. Evil is seen as blind, ignorant, and ugly, shackled to the earth, and surrounded by the fires of hell. The colouring reveals Blake's mastery over the symbolic values of colour. *828 Blake ANCIENT OF DAYS 1794 Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. The title is an attribution for God. Intended as an illustration for a poem, this work became one of Blake's most popular prints. He was a master at turning an abstract thought into a visual image. *829 Blake NEBUCHADNEZZAR 1795 Tate Gallery, London. Nebuchadnezzar was a Babylonian king who conquered Israel. At the end of his life he was said to have spent his life as a beast. Blake here depicts the bestial nature of man, the beast of burden. #FRIEDRICH 1774-1840 Caspar Friedrich, a German Romantic from Dresden, was influenced by Goethe's poetic ideals about nature. He created intense Romantic landscapes which captured the spiritual longing of the 19th Century man. His favourite subject was the rugged Pomeranian landscape. Friedrich believed that man was insignificant when compared with the power of nature. He used landscapes to symbolize his emotions. *830 Friedrich LOOKING OVER A SEA OF FOG 1815 Kunsthalle, Hamburg. Exemplifying the solitude which Friedrich chose to live by, the wanderer stands at the centre of the picture absorbed in the deep mists before him. Being alone, the artist believed he could be closer to nature. #MILLET 1814-1875 Jean Millet was a French Romantic painter of the Realist school. He settled in Barbizon, where he set out to depict the glorified dignity within hardship of peasant life. His works were appreciated by later artists like van Gogh, although at the time he was vilified by the experts. *832 Millet THE GLEANERS 1857 Louvre, Paris. This work was his most ambitious. The figures fill space, sculpturally silhouetted against a light background. The peasant women bend as if aware of their symbolic importance. #ROSSETTI 1828-1882 Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a Pre-Raphaelite Romantic painter, and born in London. His father was a revolutionary Italian poet and scholar, and his two sisters and brother were all scholarly. At the age of 20, Rossetti already led the Brotherhood of Pre-Raphaelites artists and writers devoted to 15th Century Italian artists Dante and Arthurian legends. His work paralleled the breaking away from traditional art in that of Monet and Degas and only preceded Cezanne by 10 years. Rossetti's favourite subject was women. Most of his works were sold to private collectors as he shunned the official art world. *833 Rossetti THE ANNUNCIATION 1850 Tate Gallery, London. This painting and was bitterly attacked by the critics. At this point Rossetti decided never to exhibit in London again. The painting of the figures is typically Gothic with the colouring restricted to the three primaries red, yellow and blue. *834 Rossetti ST GEORGE AND THE PRINCESS SABRA 1857 Watercolour, Tate Gallery, London. The artist's passion for pattern and decorative shapes is shown in this glorious watercolour of this medieval romance. Princess Sabra cuts a lock of her hair to present to St George. This was painted for his friend, William Morris, a great designer of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. *835 Rossetti SIR GALAHAD 1864 Watercolour, Tate Gallery, London. Entitled 'How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Percival were fed with the Holy Grail: but Sir Percival's sister died by the way', this is one of the artist's Gothic-style watercolours. The design is based on a painting the artist completed in the library for the Oxford Union in 1857. The primaries, red, yellow and blue predominate the palette, as does the patterning created by the crossing of the angel's red wings and the fabric decoration. *836 Rossetti BEATA BEATRIX 1864 Oil. Tate Gallery, London. Beatrice was the object of the love sonnets by the Medieval poet, Dante, which were the basis of Romantic poetry in Western Literature. Rossetti painted this in memory of Elizabeth Siddal, his wife who died in 1862, a parallel with Dante's idealized love for Beatrice. Beatrice sits in a trance, as the bird messenger of death, delivers the sleep of the poppy into her hands. Behind her stand the figures of love and Dante himself. The sundial pointing to her face, symbolizes the inevitable immortality of man. #BROWN 1821-1893 Ford Madox Brown, pre-dated the Pre-Raphaelite Romantic movement, but his works are influenced by the trend to poetic religious subjects. He specialized in landscapes and believed that art should return to the skills of the craftsman rather than the academies. *837 Brown THE PRETTY BAA-LAMBS 1851 Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery. Ford Madox Brown was only seven years Rossetti's senior but took the young artist in for tuition after he left the strictures of the Royal Academy. Brown insisted Rossetti study the same traditional and academic skills he had left the Academy for, so they were not together long, though they remained friends. The strange, colourful landscape, with reference to the Virgin Mary and child Jesus, is stunning. His interest in landscape and rendering an uncompromisingly correct picture is evident in this whimsical painting. #MILLAIS 1829-1896 Sir John Everitt Millais, an English Romantic painter, was 16 years old when his first painting was accepted by the Royal Academy of London, a child prodigy. When Sir Joshua Reynolds was President, Millais joined Hunt and Rossetti in what was meant to be a secret society: the Brotherhood of Pre-Raphaelites. This Brotherhood was committed to studying directly from nature and to paint subjects drawn from great literary sources or everyday life. By 1896 Millais was England's most popular painter, father of eight and President of the Royal Academy. His tremendous technical skill as a painter remained obvious throughout his life, despite many changes in style to suit the taste of his public. He made endless studies and drawings and then painted these, in every detail, from life. His most popular works were paintings of children. *838 Millais THE BRIDESMAID 1851 Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The bridesmaid is performing a custom of passing a piece of the wedding cake through the ring for good luck, a Victorian custom. A typical Pre-Raphaelite work, the model displays a wealth of the glorious, wavy, red hair; the colour enhanced by the redness of the blue-black behind her. The detailing of the corsage on her bodice and the silver container in the foreground contrast with the strong abstract quality created by the hair, the background and the simple line of red on the plate in front of her. *839 Millais OPHELIA 1852 Tate Gallery, London. Ophelia is a character from Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, a princess who is driven to suicide by her love for Hamlet. The subject matter was quite original at the time, the mad Ophelia is seen floating down the river, singing, just before she drowns. Rossetti's wife, Elizabeth Siddal, posed for this painting clothed in this antique dress, submerged in a bathtub for hours. The rest of the canvas is a feast for the eyes, particularly those of a botanist, as the riverbank was painted from natural observation. #HUNT 1827-1910 William Holman Hunt was a Romantic painter of serious religious themes, visiting the Holy Land to feel the impact of religion. He was also influenced by the poetry of Keats. His works capture the sentimentality of Victorian England. *840 Hunt THE AWAKENING CONSCIENCE 1853 Tate Gallery, London. William Holman Hunt joined Millais and Rossetti in forming the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In this painting, Millais represents one of his moralistic revelations. A kept woman rises up from her lover's lap as she experiences remorse. Her sinful partner sings on at the piano, oblivious to her enlightenment. The patterning in the work is painstakingly rendered. *841 Hunt LIGHT OF THE WORLD 1853 Wardens and Fellows of Keble College, Oxford. A very popular religious image of the 19th Century and early 20th Century, this painting is based on a passage in St John's Apocalypse: 'Behold I stand at the door and knock..' *842 Hunt SHADOW OF DEATH 1872 Manchester City Gallery. This painting depicts Christ as a carpenter in his early life. The shadow foretells his death, while Mary is frozen in grief. This kind of religious painting was very popular in late Victorian society. The artist avoids modelling Christ on the classically accepted model, but sentimentalizes the subject. #HUGHES 1832-1915 Arthur Hughes, while outside the Romantic Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, was influenced by Rossetti. Hughes' work evokes the sad, tender Romanticism of the Arthurian legends. His landscapes add atmosphere to the subject. *843 Hughes THE BRAVE GERAINT 1830 Lady Anne Tennant Collection. Arthurian legends formed a basis of many Pre-Raphaelite works, here the hero, Geraint, with Enid. Arthur Hughes was a follower of Millais but his style is softer and more gentle in mood. #SCOTT 1811-1890 William Bell Scott, taught design in Newcastle, England. Although peripheral to the Pre-Raphaelite Romantic movement, his work has the same poetic nostalgia as other English painters of the Brotherhood. *844 Scott IRON AND COAL 1860 Wallington Hall, Northumberland. This painting by William Scott was one of eight works depicting the glories of the Industrial Revolution. Here the artist captures the triumphant energy and vigour of the ship-building, the railway and the military industries of Victorian England. #BURNE-JONES 1833-98 Edward Burne-Jones was most important in the second generation of Romantic Pre-Raphaelites. He was a friend of William Morris and worked to rediscover the Medieval legends of Sir Galahad. He visited Italy and was influenced back into Classical art of the High Renaissance, which gave his art a firmer ground missing from early Pre-Raphaelite works. His works reveal a unique combination of both styles. *845 Burne-Jones BEGUILING OF MERLIN 1874 Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. This painting depicts the enchanting of Merlin by a sorceress, Nimue - part of Arthurian legends researched by the enthusiastic Pre-Raphaelites. *846 Burne-Jones THE SLEEPING PRINCESS c.1880 Faringdon Collection Trust, Berkshire. This is part of a set of scenes depicting the story of the Sleeping Beauty, for the Briar Rose series, intended for book illustration. *849 Burne-Jones DEATH OF ARTHUR c.1881 Museo de Arte, Puerto Rico. This unfinished work the artist saw as his life's ambition: to create a painting which would sum up his beliefs and ideas about the importance of the Arthurian legends to life. #WATERHOUSE 1849-1917 John William Waterhouse was one of the most popular Romantic painters of late Victorian England. He successfully combined the Classical and Romantic styles. Poetry, history and religion form his subject matter. His works evoke a soft melancholia, and yet are realistic in execution. *847 Waterhouse THE LADY OF SHALOTT 1888 Tate Gallery, London. The subject, from Tennyson's poem, was a typical source of inspiration of Victorian art. William Waterhouse combined the Classical and Romantic styles: dreamy nostalgia but with formal composition. *848 Waterhouse HYLAS AND THE NYMPHS 1896 Manchester City Gallery. Hylas was one of the Greek heroes who accompanied Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece. Hylas was beguiled by nymphs who led him to his death. The Femme Fatale was a common theme in Victorian art. #FORTESQUE-BRICKDALE 1871-1945 Eleanor Fortesque-Brickdale was a famous English Romantic book-illustrator, designer and decorator. Her works were influenced by Burne-Jones and the poetic Romanticism of the age. *850 Fortesque-Brickdale THE WISE VIRGINS 1901 Watercolour, Christopher Wood Gallery, England. Eleanor Fortesque-Brickdale was a superb book illustrator, whose style became a standard in the art into the early 20th Century. This work is based on the Biblical text referring to the wise virgins who returned to thank the Lord for his gifts.