DOI Heft:
No. 31 (October, 1896)
DOI Artikel:The editor's room
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17295#0071
THE EDITOR'S ROOM
xtt,-„. titttjt t/^a tato traced to one man—Ford Madox-Brown. Nor is
NEW PUBLICATIONS .. . .. ^ A. ,. - , ,
it the time to attempt to discover his final place m
The Cartoons of Ford Madox-Brown. (Repro- the hierarchy of painters. We are at once too
duced by the Autotype Co. Price ^10 ios.)—Here near the Pre-Raphaelite movement and too remote
it is not the place to inquire how far the great Pre- to be coldly impartial. For while several members
Raphaelite movement which has left an indelible of the original brotherhood are still alive it cannot
mark on the history of English art can be fairly be said to have passed into the domain of history,
where it could be criticised openly and plainly
without fear of offence. And yet, on the
other hand, the fashions of the last few years
have seemed to push it back into the past
much farther than its actual date would war-
rant. Indeed, ten years ago he would have
been a bold man who prophesied anything
approaching a revival of Pre-Raphaelitism in
the nineteenth century. True that Madox-
Brown still worked faithful to his original
idea, and that Burne-Jones with many others
carried on the legend. But it was evident
enough that the work of each was unrelated
to that of the rest, and that as a school the
Pre-Raphaelite has almost ceased to influence
younger generations. It looked as if the
movement had exhausted itself, that its work
was completed, and that French naturalistic
ideas had supplanted the realistic symbolism
of the brotherhood. But the last few years
have witnessed a surprising and unexpected
renascence, its most startling feature being
the discovery of the Pre-Raphaelites and Eng-
lish decorative art by the Continent. For
France and Germany have awakened to
curiosity respecting the work, not merely of
the original seven, but of the various groups
who in different ways carried on some of
their traditions. And now that the early
Pre-Raphaelite, and the late, the nearly re-
lated groups of the book illustrators of the
"sixties" and "seventies," the Arts and
Crafts Society, and the Birmingham School,
are one and all being studied and imitated by
foreigners, it would be grossly unfair if the
author of the mural decorations in the Man-
chester Town Hall were overlooked.
Without regard for its intrinsic merit—
which is great—it is but poetic justice to
revive an interest in the work of the Pre-
the mother of st. john the baptist " Raphaelite before the Pre-Raphaelite brother-
from a cartoon by ford madox-brown hood—one who inspired it, influenced it, and
5S
xtt,-„. titttjt t/^a tato traced to one man—Ford Madox-Brown. Nor is
NEW PUBLICATIONS .. . .. ^ A. ,. - , ,
it the time to attempt to discover his final place m
The Cartoons of Ford Madox-Brown. (Repro- the hierarchy of painters. We are at once too
duced by the Autotype Co. Price ^10 ios.)—Here near the Pre-Raphaelite movement and too remote
it is not the place to inquire how far the great Pre- to be coldly impartial. For while several members
Raphaelite movement which has left an indelible of the original brotherhood are still alive it cannot
mark on the history of English art can be fairly be said to have passed into the domain of history,
where it could be criticised openly and plainly
without fear of offence. And yet, on the
other hand, the fashions of the last few years
have seemed to push it back into the past
much farther than its actual date would war-
rant. Indeed, ten years ago he would have
been a bold man who prophesied anything
approaching a revival of Pre-Raphaelitism in
the nineteenth century. True that Madox-
Brown still worked faithful to his original
idea, and that Burne-Jones with many others
carried on the legend. But it was evident
enough that the work of each was unrelated
to that of the rest, and that as a school the
Pre-Raphaelite has almost ceased to influence
younger generations. It looked as if the
movement had exhausted itself, that its work
was completed, and that French naturalistic
ideas had supplanted the realistic symbolism
of the brotherhood. But the last few years
have witnessed a surprising and unexpected
renascence, its most startling feature being
the discovery of the Pre-Raphaelites and Eng-
lish decorative art by the Continent. For
France and Germany have awakened to
curiosity respecting the work, not merely of
the original seven, but of the various groups
who in different ways carried on some of
their traditions. And now that the early
Pre-Raphaelite, and the late, the nearly re-
lated groups of the book illustrators of the
"sixties" and "seventies," the Arts and
Crafts Society, and the Birmingham School,
are one and all being studied and imitated by
foreigners, it would be grossly unfair if the
author of the mural decorations in the Man-
chester Town Hall were overlooked.
Without regard for its intrinsic merit—
which is great—it is but poetic justice to
revive an interest in the work of the Pre-
the mother of st. john the baptist " Raphaelite before the Pre-Raphaelite brother-
from a cartoon by ford madox-brown hood—one who inspired it, influenced it, and
5S