THE TJHIVBRSITT OP OKLAHOM GRADUATE COLLEGE THE PRE-RAPHAELITES AHD THEIR CRITICS: A TENTATIVE APPROACH TOWARD THE AESTHETIC OP PRE-RAPHAELITISM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OP PHILOSOPHY BY WILLIAM EVAN PREDEMAN Norman, Oklahoma _________ l â 5 6 __________ THE PEE-EAPHABLITBS AND THEIR CRITICS A TENTATIVE APPROACH TOWARD THE AESTHETIC OP PRE-RAPHAELITISM APPROVED BT Æ", ~hi. I DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PEBPAOE The purpose of this study is to exsimine the view­ points of a sufficient number of critics of the Pre- Eaphaelite Movement to arrive at a tentative definition and to place the movement in its proper historical per­ spective. The primary emphasis will be literary. But since ,the Pre-Raphaelite Movement began as a movement in painting and so expanded in its later phase that its influence spread to furniture making, interior decoration, tapestry and wall paper design, and book making and illustration, a completely literary study of the movement would be as inadequate as one dealing solely with the painting. Numerous studies have been made of the indi­ vidual Pre-Raphaelites and of the movement in general. Most of these, however, are devoted to relating biographi­ cal facts and to tracing the history of the movement. Critical studies of the aesthetic underlying the movement and motivating the individual members are few in number. Although Pre-Eaphaelitism is well documented, no universal agreement concerning the historical facts of the movement exists. Por this reason, the first part of the study is essentially historical, tracing the successive Phases through which Pre-Ranhaelitism progressed. Part II iii is devoted to an examination of the critical opinions of the major apologists and detractors of Pre-Eaphaelitism, includii^ the Pre-Haphaelites themselves, in order to arrive at a tentative definition of Pre-Eaphaelitism. The third part of the study is a critical bibliography designed, to provide as complete a survey as possible, from existing sources, of the large body of research that has been di­ rected at the Pre-Eaphaelite Movement. The underlying thesis of this study is multi­ faceted, since the object is an attempt to establish Pre-Eaphaelitism in its proper critical perspective. More and more, as my investigation of the movement has progressed Pre-Eaphaelitism has assumed a greater significance in the history of English aesthetics than that generally attribute to it. Although it began as a reform in English painting, its basic impulse and its primary influence were essentiall|y literary. As a stage in the history of English aesthetics and ideas, the Pre-Eaphaelite Movement is complex; further­ more, it is made doubly important by the fact that it be­ got other movements in literature and art, not only in England but in America. Pre-Eaphaelitism has an intrinsic value for the literary as well as for the art historian for it bridges the gap between the Eomantic Movement and that particular point of view known as the fin de siècle, which to so great an extent has determined the artistic IV and literary values of the twentieth century. The extensiveness of the bibliography of a given subject is often an indication of its relative importance— j* it was indeed one of the first indications that motivated this study— and the amount of research devoted to Pre- Eaphaelitism clearly indicates that the movement was more than an ephemeral stage in the development of English aesthetic history. It is in keeping with the spirit of the earlier research that this study has been undertaken. It would be quite impossible for me here to ac­ knowledge all those who have been of assistance to me, not only in the preparation of this study but in the apprentieé years leading up to it. A student's most obvious debt is to his teachers. Among the many members of the faculty of University of Oklahoma who have instructed and advised me, I am especially indebted to Professors Victor A. Elconin, Joseph H, Marshbum, Philip J. Uolan, John P. Pritchard, and John M. Haines of the Department of English and to Professor Stuart E. ÿompkins of the Department of History. Por reading my dissertation and for making constructive suggestions for improving it I am most grateful to the members of my committee and also to Professor Kester Svendsen, who has contributed his time and bibliographical knowledge to aid me in the solving of documentary problems. Pellow students whom I wish to thank especially for their friendship and encouragement_i V McGinnis, John L. Murphy, Howard V. Starks, and John A. Walker. They have read my manuscripts and made many practical suggestions which have greatly improved the quality of the dissertation* I can only hope that my wife, Patsy Dale Hines Predeman, is aware how valuable an assistant she has been in bringing this study to fruition. Her patience and en­ couragement have often been the necessary incentive to its completion, and it is to her that I am especially indebted for the typing of the reading copy manuscripts. To Professor Alexander M. Saunders, my director, teacher, and friend, I can only say, inadequately, "Thank you." During my years as a graduate student, I have found Dr. Saunders completely honest and dependable. He has ad­ vised me both personally and academically, impressing upon me always the value of scholarship and integrity. In the preparation of the dissertation he has been of invaluable service. In fact, it was in his seminar in Pre-Eaphaelitism that I first began to crystallize my ideas about the move­ ment. Dr. Saunders has willingly and readily given his time and effort to make this study better than it would otherwise have been. VI ÎDABLB OP com m is Page PREFACE................ iii PART I. A CRITICAL HISTORT OP PRE-RAPHAELITISM chapter I. THE AHTECEDEHT8 OP PRE-RAPHAELITE REPORM 1 II. THE P.R.B.— THE COMDTG TOGETHER............. 16 III. THE P.R.B.— APPIHITT AMD SEPARATION. ....... 55 IV. THE PRE-RAPHAELITE MOVEMENT AND ITS APTERMATH. ........ 57 PART II. THE CRITICS OP PRE RAPHAELITISM V. THE PRE-RAPHAELITES AS SELF-CRITICS........... 99 VI. RUSKIN AND P^-RAPHAELITISM. ............... 155 VII. PROM PRE-RAPHAELITISM TO AESTHETICISM......... 159 yill. CONCLUSION. ..... 182 PART III. A PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHT OP PRE RAPHAELITISM INTRODUCTION ................... IS? OUTLINE.................................... 190 vii Page BIBLIOGEAPHT.......................................... 205 APPENDIX: A OHROnOLOGï OP THE PEE-RAPHAELITE MOVEMENT....*......................... 262 viii THE PRE-RAPHAELITES ARD THEIR CRITICS: A TEHTATI7E APPROACH TOWARD THE AESTHETIC OP PRE-RAPHAELITISM PART I A CRITICAL HISTORY OF PRE-RAPHAELITISM CHAPTER I THE AHTBCEDEHTS OF PRE-RAPHAELITE^ REFORM Critics and literary historians of the Victorian period have over-simplified the term Pre-Raphaelite to de­ note only those aspects of Victorian romanticisms revolving about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In reality, the term includes three phases of a congeries of literary and artis­ tic creation which have hitherto been used loosely and in­ terchangeably as synonyms— the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, and Pre-Raphaelitism. Ac­ tually, they are not mutually inclusive but sequential Numerous variant spellings of the terms "Pre- Raphaelite" and "Pre-Raphaelitism" exist, such as_"Prae- Raphaelite," "Preraphaelite," and "Pre-Raffaelite"; the former spellings will be employed throughout this,study. teims that will be employed throughout this study. They are like the ever-widening circles of tiny waves set up when a stone is thrown into a still pond. The farther the waves recede from the center of disturbance, the more their crests diminish and their circumferences increase, until at last they dissipate their energies and cease to be. The term Pre-Eaphaelite Brotherhood specifically refers to the pleiad who undertook in 1848 to bring about a revolution in English painting and poetry. Broader in its I implications, the Pre-Eaphaelite Movement incorporates not only the Brotherhood but all later aesthetic influences emanating from the doctrines of the Brotherhood and cul­ minating in what may be called a historical-critical school Like Eomanticism, Pre-Eaphaelitism is even broader as a critical term and more generic in its applications. In fact, it is often convenient to make use of the term "Pre- Eaphaelitisms " in much the same sense that Love joy employed "Eomanticisms." The failure of critics to recognize and employ these distinctions between the phases of Pre- Raphaelitism has almost stripped the terms of any critical significance. The definitions of Pre-Eaphaelitism are almost as numerous as the persons attempting to define it. To their contemporaries the Pre-Eaphaelites were either the avant ?arde of a long-anticipated artistic renaissance or revo- Lut&onaries-seelâng-to- undermaae—esBrS-ti-ng-moral-i-ty -aad-te— destroy the artistic traditions of English art. Modern critics have distorted the critical importance of Pre- Eaphaelitism either hy trying to popularize the movement or by neglecting it altogether* As an "aesthetic adventure"^ Pre-Raphaelitism has been dramatized beyond all proportion: it has been staged as both a "comedy"^ and a "tragedy"^ and the Pre-Raphaelites have been "aetherialized," like Shelley /t although admittedly on "poor" but "splendid wings." Because of their critical reticence the Pre- Raphaelites are partially responsible for the exaggerated views of their aesthetic. In addition to their manifesto, Phe Germ, and a few scattered critical documents, they left :io canon of criticism whereby they can be identified. Theii? motives and incentives can be gleaned from either their per-* sonal letters or from their paintings and their poetry. Thf numerous critical reminiscences, memoirs, and autobiog­ raphies, in which filial duty often takes precedence over critical acumen and which were written half a century after the demise of the Brotherhood, must be used with caution. ^William Gaunt, The Aesthetic Adventure (New York: parcourt Brace and Go., 1^45).