19th century

Historical social context

19th century art became more personal, an observation of people and things as they appeared to the artist

romantic art: artists used Medieval and Renaissance stories as the subject of their paintings

Queen Victoria

The British Empire

Scientific discoveries and inventions

The Industrial revolution

education

the urban habitat working conditions

Literary context

The Novel

Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist" social and humanitarian themes

Robert L. Stevenson " "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" gothic tradition

Oscar Wilde " The Picture of Dorian Gray" " The Importance of Being Earnest " dissatisfaction with the values of the age

Pre-Rahaelite Brotherhood ( painters, poets and art critics) : a reaction to Victorian Values

Dante Gabriel Rossetti John Everett Millais
Superiority of art over morality
They wanted to return to the purity and simplicity of the Medieval Italian art, before Raphael
Great attention to detail

paintings

extreme attention to detail brilliant colours they liked painting women

Ophelia

second phase of Pre-Raphaelitism

They emphasise the qualities and the beauty of natural materials They designed and manufactured stained glass, textiles, handprinted wallpaper

J.E.Millais botanic detail flowers have symbolic meaning

impressionism: artists painted scenes of everyday life, they were interested in capturing the effects of light and color rather than in providing a perfect copy of a subject

Art Nouveau characteristics: sophisticated representation of human figure, geometrical patterns, broke the borders between fine art and applied art, advertising posters

Art Nouveau's artists Jules Chéret, Henry De Toulouse Lautrec,
Alphonse Mucha, Aubrey Beardsley