There’s often a rebellious streak in artists, and one group of young English painters, writers and poets had a real axe to grind back in 1848. They thought the art of the time (grand religious-inspired and imagined scenes) was simply not ‘it’. They called themselves The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and met in secret to create artworks inspired by nature and real people. Ahead of The Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Australian-exclusive exhibition, the gallery’s director Louise Tegart tells us why this group of artists (who weren’t all men, by the way), were so revolutionary.L: 'Minstrel Angel playing cymbals' by William Morris circa 1867. Pen with blue and brown ink and watercolour on discoloured pale buff paper. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Bequeathed by John N. Bryson 1977 R: 'Study of a Velvet Crab' by John Ruskin 1870-71. Graphite, watercolour and bodycolour on grey-blue paper. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. Presented by John Ruskin to the Ruskin Drawing School (University of Oxford), 1875.

REBEL, REBEL
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood wanted to overthrow the accepted way of making art. The brotherhood included William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Thomas Woolner. They were really trying to overturn everything that artists were being taught at the Royal Academy School. They thought the Renaissance painter Raphael was being held up as the pinnacle of artistic achievement, and they saw that as quite formulaic and backward-looking. When they first started, they would sign their works ‘PRB’ and refuse to explain what that meant.

BACK TO NATURE
The group had a common interest in a return to nature in art. They were the first artists who took canvases out into nature and painted (rather than just doing a sketch and then coming back to the studio). When we look at their works today, we kind of think of them as just these uncomplicated, beautiful artworks. But when they were first painted in the mid-19th century, they were regarded as morally shocking and objectionable.L: 'Jane Morris in Icelandic costume' by Dante Gabriel Rossetti circa 1873. Pen and ink on paper, private collection. R: 'Mary Ellen Meredith' by Henry Wallis 1858. Graphite on paper. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. Purchased (Bouch Fund) with the assistance of The Art Fund, the Friends of the Ashmolean, Michael Barclay, and others, 2003.

MORAL PANIC
People were shocked by the realism of their works and the topics that they were addressing (poverty, immigration, prostitution, double standards of sexual morality), but also by their private lives: they had affairs with their models; they had affairs with each other's wives and they swapped wives.

UNCONVENTIONAL BEAUTY
Dante Gabriel Rossetti came up with the word ‘stunner’, which sits uncomfortably to us in contemporary times, but back then it actually indicated quite progressive thinking – a Pre-Raphaelite ‘stunner’ was a very unconventional beauty. Some of the women depicted in the art are quite androgynous or have strong, masculine features, which was different to the highly idealised ‘feminine’ beauty at the time. They also wore very floaty, unstructured dresses without corsets and crinolines. The Pre-Raphaelites painted very striking strong women who often met the viewer’s gaze in the work. They weren’t treating women as just objects.L: 'Cloister Lilies' by Marie Spartali Stillman 1891. Watercolour and bodycolour on paper. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. R: 'Two Acolytes Censing, Pentecost' by Simeon Solomon 1863. Bodycolour on paper, mounted on canvas. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.

WOMEN OF THE BROTHERHOOD
At the exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, there are some really beautiful works by Elizabeth Siddal, who was Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s primary muse (they later married). She was a very, very talented artist who was paid a salary by John Ruskin (who was one of the group’s inspirations and patrons) for any work she produced, which indicates how highly regarded her work was at the time.

LOCAL ARTIST INSPIRATION
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is presenting another exhibition alongside this one showcasing historical and contemporary Australian works that draw from the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites. In The Company of Morris features work by artists such as Deborah Klein, who is primarily known as a printmaker but is also a highly skilled painter. A lot of her work is about female subjectivity, but in recent years, she’s really been looking at the textile work of William Morris and his daughter, May Morris. She was also a very, very talented artist and until recently, a lot of her works have been attributed to her father. So Deborah’s work is about giving May back her place in history as well.

RARELY SEEN WORKS
The exhibition coming to Australia for the first time is from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, but the drawings and watercolours featured haven’t been seen widely, even at the Ashmolean, because they’re works on paper. They can only be displayed for very short periods of time because of environmental conditions. It’s really an incredible opportunity for visitors to the Art Gallery of Ballarat to see these rare and fragile works.

This article was produced in partnership with our pals at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. Check out the Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings and Watercolours exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat from May 20 to August 6.