The Poetry of Drawing: Pre-Raphaelite Designs, Studies and Watercolours

Study of Jane Morris for Mnemosyne
(1876) by Rossetti

Did you know that the Pre-Raphaelites considered their drawings to be works of art in themselves? The Poetry of Drawing: Pre-Raphaelite Designs, Studies and Watercolours shows you just why they did.

The exhibition captures the spirit of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and brings into focus the way the artists challenged the art establishment and responded to the times, their critics and to each other. It’s a wonderful way to trace their artistic process and to see how a drawing is transformed into a fully-fledged work.

There are works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman-Hunt, John Ruskin, Edward Burne-Jones, Frederick Sandys, Simeon Solomon and William Morris among others. There are over 140 works on display, including drawings, sketches, watercolours, illustrations, textile patterns and designs for stained glass. It remains one of the most comprehensive collections of Pre-Raphaelite drawings ever to be seen in Australia.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in London in 1948 as a way to express the artists’ dissatisfaction with the drawing style being advocated by the Royal Academy Schools.  For them, it was too mechanical.

The Brotherhood was initially made up of Rossetti, Holman-Hunt and Millais. They were later joined by the likes of Burne-Jones, Sandys, Ruskin, Soloman, Morris, Charles Allston Collins and James Collinson.

Study of the head of Elizabeth Siddal for Ophelia (1852) by Millais

The young radicals preferred the simplified outline style of Moritz Retzch, and were intent on restoring the spirit of visual arts to the early Renaissance (or pre-Raphael) times. Their focus was on literary and prose subjects, which were imbued with a sense of natural grace, minute detail, vibrant colours, idealism and spiritual honesty.

One of the drawings that struck me the most was the seated female nude by Rossetti, drawn for his Ecce Ancilla Domini! (‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord!’) or The Annunciation (1849). The pencil strokes on the blue paper beautifully trace the markings of the brooding look that makes up one of the most expressive components of the seated Virgin in the drawing.

Beatrice meeting Dante at a marriage feast, denies him her salutation
(1852) by Rossetti

There are a few works where the drawing and the final work are displayed side by side. The Long Engagement (1859) by Arthur Hughes is one such work where the oil on canvas is positioned alongside two pencil drawings. It shows the trials of modern love and marriage, such as the effect poverty has on a relationship.  

The artists also did portraits and caricatures of each other, which were then gifted to their friends. They are intense and revealing, and sometimes satirical, as that of Sandys’ A Nightmare (1857). It was a spoof on A Dream of the Past (1857) by Millais, and offended the Victorian art critic Ruskin, who was portrayed as a braying ass.  

Study for Mariana (1850) by Millais

The drawings are also important in the way they were used in ‘practical’ ventures. It was Ruskin’s opinions about the potential for creativity in crafts and labour that influenced the later years of the Pre-Raphaelites. There are drawings for tile panels, glassware, stained glass panels, wallpapers and textile prints that show the versatility of the artists and their willingness to embrace that more utilitarian side to their art.

The quality of the drawings are such that it comes as no surprise to learn that for the Pre-Raphaelites their drawings were as important as the final outcomes. The drawings and designs are a way to see the artists’ thought processes at work – to see what they added, what they left out, and how they worked in the detail and populated the creative space.

The collection doesn’t end with the drawings. There is a range of programmes that goes with the exhibition. You can take part in sketching workshops, demonstrations of techniques, lectures, guided tours, forums and the lunchtime lecture series to learn more and to feel just that much closer to the world of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Oh, what's that in the hollow... (1893) by Hughes

The Poetry of Drawing: Pre-Raphaelite Designs, Studies and Watercolours is now on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales till Sunday, 4 September 2011. Admission fees apply. For more information, log on to the Art Gallery website.

Image copyright details:

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Study of Jane Morris for Mnemosyne (1876), Pastel on paper, Private collection,  © Private collection and Christie's Images Ltd 2010 

John Everett Millais, Study of the head of Elizabeth Siddal for Ophelia (1852), Pencil on paper, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, © BM&AG

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Beatrice meeting Dante at a marriage feast, denies him her salutation (1852), Watercolour and bodycolour on paper, 35.1 x 42.5cm sheet (irreg.), Purchased with funds provided by John Schaeffer 2003

John Everett Millais, Study for Mariana (1850), Pen and brown ink on paper, Victoria and Albert Museum, London © V&A Images

Edward Robert Hughes, Oh, what's that in the hollow... (1893), Watercolour with gum and scratching-out on paper, Royal Watercolour Society

Image source: The Art Gallery of New South Wales