Desperate Romantics: The Private Lives of the Pre-Raphaelites

This book is about what the subtitle says: the private lives of the Pre-Raphaelite Group and their champion.

So, we get to know their social and family origins, how they knew each other, how they got together, how they searched for the “stunners” (were these women or the embodiment of their fantasies?), and how they swapped them amongst themselves.

The book is border line between social history and a gossip magazine, with may be more of the latter than the former. There is very little analysis of their work, but it remains Ruskinian in its honesty. It does not pretend to be what it isn’t and stays true to its nature.

Anyway, it was highly entertaining, and it raises once again the question of whether knowing about the life of an show more artist or writer adds, or detracts, anything from an appreciation of that person’s work. This is a tough question and I shall not propose an answer. Sometimes I welcome knowing more, sometimes I do not.

To this group I would give the following Prizes:

The greatest painter: Millais
The most irritating character: Rossetti
The most Oxfordy: Burne-Jones
The best decorator: Morris
The most complex character: Ruskin
The most interesting character: Hunt
The most forgettable: Madox Brown

Some hold two prizes.

The most kitschy painter: Hunt
The most inspiring: Ruskin
The most socially significant: Morris

With the women, I ended up very confused, since they all move around from one member of the brotherhood to another. Most of them cut a similar Pygmalonian pattern, had (or were depicted as having) frizzy hair, long neck and melancholic eyes. Alas, in my mind they have all become one.

I will give more attention to their art when I visit the Tate’s exhibit next month. I will also then start with Ruskin’s writings on art in preparation to reading someone who was deeply inspired by him: Proust. show less

Lively, energetic account of the PRB and Ruskin. (How balanced/subjective is Moyle's presentation of Rossetti? He's a polarizing figure, but...)

This is a good story, well told. It's easy to read but thoroughly researched.
I've never liked the Pre-Raphaelites, but this sent me back to some of the paintings with fresh eyes.
Great fun and lots of scandal.

Focusing on the beginning of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and the artists who formed it, this book takes an in-depth look at the lives of Rossetti, Malias and Ruskin whose lives became entwined. These were men from the upper socioeconomic rungs, they chose models from the lower economic scale, whom they called "Stunners." Lizzie Siddal, Annie Miller, Jane Burden and Fanny Corforth all represented the sulky, beautiful women who indeed forever transcended the criticism of both the art movement and the definition of beauty..

Recommended for those who appreciate the works of the Pre-Raphaelite artists.