| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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should be a painter (Marsh, Dante Gabriel Rossetti 6–7). He studied art at Sass’s Academy in Queen Street, Bloomsbury, in 1842 and proceeded to the Antique School of the Royal Academy in 1848 (Doughty 51). The Royal Academy, founded in 1768 for the purpose of cultivating and improving the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture, was the most influential institution of art in the country (Victorian 1). It held an annual exhibition that set the standard by which art in Britain was judged. According to Angeli, despite the honor of being a student at the Royal Academy, Rossetti withdrew abruptly in 1848 after less than one year of study, determined to put himself under the tutelage of a distinguished painter. He wrote to Ford Madox Brown, who was seven years his senior, expressing admiration for what he had seen of that artist’s work (Angeli xii). Brown consented to accept him as a student, refused any fee, and set him to work painting a still life. Unfortunately, Brown’s new pupil was the kind who was unable to take instruction from anyone for very long because he was inspired more by his own imagination than by any outer influences. When he met William Holman Hunt later in that same summer, he asked his advice on how best to proceed in learning to paint (Angeli xiii). Hunt suggested that he should begin a picture without delay, working in the still life studies as an accessory. Rossetti responded with the proposal that they share a studio, and by the end of August 1848 the two were working together at 7 Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square.
Through Hunt, Rossetti met John Everett Millais and, in August or September 1848, the three formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (Marsh, Dante Gabriel Rossetti 52). This new society also included the young sculptor Thomas Woolner, painters James Collinson and F. G. Stephens, and Rossetti’s brother, William Michael (Doughty 67–68). All were influenced by engravings by Lasinio after the admirable Early Italian mural paintings of Benzzo Gozzoli and others in the Campo Santo at Pisa (Angeli xiv). In its most basic sense, Pre-Raphaelitism began as a revolt against what these young men thought to be the fossilized academic tyranny of the Royal Academy. It was their effort to breathe new life into art, refusing allegiance to certain conventions that had developed