Pre-Raphaelite Sisters

Overlooked stories of the female painters and subjects of Pre-Raphaelite art

When the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood exhibited their first works in 1849, it heralded a revolution in British art. Think of the images created by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others in their circle. In these images, however, it is not men but pale-faced young women with lustrous, tumbling locks that spring to mind, gazing soulfully from the picture frame or in dramatic scenes painted in glowing colors.
Who were these women? What is known of their lives and their roles in a movement that spanned over half a century? Some were models, plucked from obscurity to pose for figures in Pre-Raphaelite paintings, while others were sisters, wives, daughters and friends of the artists. Several were artists themselves, with aspirations to match those of the men: sharing the same artistic and social networks yet condemned by their gender to occupy a separate sphere. Others inhabited and sustained a male-dominated art world as partners in production, maintaining households and studios and socializing with patrons. Although their backgrounds and life experiences certainly varied widely, all were engaged in creating Pre-Raphaelite art.
Containing over 100 beautifully reproduced images, Pre-Raphaelite Sisters illustrates the often overlooked stories of some of the movement’s most familiar faces.