The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Circle
Free entry
NGV International
Ground Level
11 Aug 78 – 8 Oct 78
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were a ‘secret society’ of artists, poets and critics that formed in 1848 to oppose the teachings of London’s Royal Academy at the time. The group advocated a return to a late-medieval and early Renaissance approach to art that focused on rich detail, lush colour and ‘noble’ subjects, usually with a strong moral or religious message. The group only lasted five years but were influential across the world, inspiring both the Symbolist and Arts and Crafts movements.
As early as 1968, when the new NGV International opened on St Kilda Road, the Gallery was renowned for its collection of Pre-Raphaelite works. The Pre-Raphaelites and their Circle was the largest of several exhibitions in the 1970s highlighting this important aspect of the Collection. It featured oil and watercolour paintings, and prints and drawings by Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, Walter Deverell, Arthur Hughes, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Frederick Sandys, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.