Watts, George Frederick

(1817– 1904), English painter and sculptor of grandiose allegorical themes. Watts believed that art should preach a universal message, but his subject matter, conceived in terms of vague abstract ideals, is full of symbolism that is often obscure and today seems superficial.

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel

(b. May 12, 1828, London, Eng. – d. April 9, 1882, Birchington-on-Sea, Kent), English painter and poet who helped to found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of painters treating religious, moral, and mediaeval subjects in a nonacademic manner.

He acquired some of Brown's admiration for the German “Pre-Raphaelites,” the nickname of the austere Nazarenes, who had sought to bring back into German art a pre-Renaissance purity of style and aim. It remained to initiate a similiar reform in England.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Largely through Rossetti's efforts, the English Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of young British painters was formed in 1848 in reaction against what they conceived to be the unimaginative and artificial historical painting of the Royal Academy. They purportedly sought to express a new moral seriousness and sincerity in their works. They were inspired by Italian art of the 14th and 15th centuries, and their adoption of the name Pre-Raphaelite expressed their admiration for what they saw as the direct and uncomplicated depiction of nature typical of Italian painting before the High Renaissance and, particularly, before the time of Raphael. They aimed at “truth to nature,” which was to be achieved by minuteness of detail and painting from nature outdoors. The style evolved featured sharp and brilliant lighting, a clear atmosphere, and a near-photographic reproduction of details. They also frequently introduced a private poetic symbolism into their representations of Biblical subjects and mediaeval literary themes.

Rossetti expanded the Brotherhood's aims by linking poetry, painting, and social idealism and by interpreting the term Pre-Raphaelite as synonymous with a romanticized mediaeval past.

Although the Brotherhood's active life lasted less than 10 years, its influence on painting in Britain, and ultimately on the decorative arts and interior design, was profound.

The Primitivives

The Italian art of the 15 -16 centuries.

O.T.C. - officers training camp.

Militia - a body of men enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill and exercise but serving full time only in emergencies.

Food for thought

1. Speak about the associations evoked by the title. Explain the use of the indefinite article.

2. What idea is revealed by the opposition between the very first sentences and the very last sentence of the passage?

3. What do we get to know about the main character? Comment on the use of reported speech.

4. How is the conflict between George and people surrounding him revealed in the first paragraph?

5. Comment on the use of the artists’ names in the text.

6. Speak about the relationship between George and his parents. Comment on the choice of the verbs revealing George’s love for painting.

7. Analyse the first paragraph as a complete unit.

8. Compare the choice of words revealing George’s love of art and his abhorrance of killing. What stylistic devices support the idea? Why does the author create such a preceptable picture?

9. What thematic set is clearly seen in the description of School?

10. Comment on the implications of Kipling’s poem alluded to in the passage.

11. Define the role of transitional sentences between the parts. What principles of foregrounding are used there?

12. Speak about the general idea of the text.