Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood [Paperback]

Jan Marsh (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This absorbing work, undiminished by its clear but reasoned feminist approach, is essential for serious collections in art history, women's studies, or literature. Three carefully researched chapters (``Youth,'' ``Marriage,'' ``Maturity'') reconstruct the forgotten lives of six women who were integral to the pre-Raphaelite movement. Elizabeth Sidall, Emma Madox Borwn, Annie Miller, Fanny Cornforth, Janey Morris, and Georgiana Burne-Jones are validated as individuals with their own lives and creative needs, not simply as romanticized adjuncts to their better-known male companions. Interestingly enough, despite their putative beauty and allure, these women were often chosen as models because of their plainness or availability; yet they became the Victorian feminine ideal. Recommended. Robin Kaplan, M.L.S., The Information Group, Los Angeles
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Pub Group Inc (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0704301695
• ISBN-13: 978-0704301696
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read if you're interested, June 27, 2007

By 

Stephen A. Troutt (Murfreesboro, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood (Paperback)

One can stumble here if you are looking for a 'casual' book about the Pre-Raphaelites, this isn't it. But if you are interested in truly understanding these women and their times, this is a must read in my opinion.

It is so easy to forget how impossibly HARD it was for a woman to achieve any kind of equality of chance or treatment in those days. Obedient 'saint' (wife never seen or heard) or wanton 'sinner'(prostitute) were the roles they were given or forced into by a overall society that was totally unable to grant them any artistic or intellectual value. Even for a woman to model for an artist was to be considered no better than a common streetwalker.

But these women were the models, the muses, the lovers, the wives, the inspiration and the despair, sometimes the victors and sometimes the victims of the movement. That these women, mostly low born, were able to leave any mark was a mark of achievement. That they forced open the door to equal treatment even a little was a stellar accomplishment against terrible odds.

If you are interested in these Artists, theirs times, the society they lived in - if you truly want to understand their art, this book is simply a must read. As the saying goes 'Behind every great man is a greater woman'.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a book that reveals the PRS, April 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood (Paperback)

I found Jan Marsh's book very interesting. She takes the time to try and give a ful account of the women attached to the Pre-Rapaelite Brotherhood. Her research seems thorough, but she also seems to fall into the trap of Victorian notions of the tragic woman. Some of the women did lead tragic lives, but I wish she had down-played this one dimensional aspect to the Pre-Raphaelite Sistrhood.