"In 1848, seven young, inexperienced English artists banded together to form the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Together they created a novel style that bewildered its first audiences and retains the power to shock as well as to fascinate, a century and a half later. The first major publication on the Pre-Raphaelite movement in more than fifteen years, this exquisite volume incorporates the swell of recent research into a comprehensive up-to-date survey. The book explores the collaborative practices of the Brothers - including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and William Holman Hunt - and their close associates and accords a major role to the women artists of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. ". "Illustrated with one hundred and seventy color reproductions, this book concentrates closely on the visual impact of Pre-Raphaelite art. The materials, techniques, and working practices of the artists are revealed, using many close-up details. Furthermore, the book analyzes and considers how the Pre-Raphaelites responded to and commented on their time and place - a world characterized by religious and political controversy, new scientific concern for precise observation, the emergence of psychology, and changing attitudes toward sexuality and women. ". "The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites shows how this group developed to become one of the first and most distinctive movements in modern art, comparable to the Impressionists and later movements in France. "--BOOK JACKET.