Customer Reviews

The Pre-raphaelites

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This book is the most beautifully, and thoroughly done book on the Pre-Raphaelites that I have ever read. The prints are exceptional and the history reads like a novel. It was in this book that I found the passion to paint and I have never stopped. I recommend it to anyone looking for the excitement in art.

I am a learning hobbyist artist interested mostly in portraits. An artist friend told me that I might be interested in the pictures of the Pre-Raphaelites. "Pre-Ra...What?"

When I bought this book I had not intended to read much of the text. I was primarily attracted to the beautiful pictures in the book, which I hope to learn from. It turns out that Christopher Wood's rendition of the biographies of these remarkable group of mid- to late 19th century English artists was exceptionally well weaved and readable. I got a very good education on the history of the Pre-Rephaelite art with fascinating details of the lives of the key players and, of course, beautiful, large-format reproduction of their best work.

I came across a number of books on this subject. Some have better and more detail prose, but none comes close to this one in terms selection and the quality of reproduction of the pictures.

I'm so thrilled to see that this book has been reissued after being out of print for several years. I found the original edition of this book in a frame shop in 1992, and bought it on a whim. Through this book I fell in love with the art and artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and now own over fifty books on the subject, while prints by Evelyn de Morgan and John William Waterhouse decorate my walls. This book introduced me to the beauty and majesty of Pre-Raphaelite art, so I'd love it for that reason alone. However, years later, I still find that Wood's survey of Pre-Raphaelitism is the best I've ever seen. Full of 'academic' information, it's still easily read cover to cover, and the full color pictures are exquisite.

If you have even the slightest interest in Pre-Raphaelite art, you simply must own this book. It's both the PRB Primer and Bible, as far as I'm concerned.

First, let me say what I like about this book. It is profusely illustrated with full-page images, nearly all pictures mentioned in the text are reproduced in good quality, so one immediately sees what is described by the author. The text is free of jargon, lucid and highly entertaining (check the story of John Ruskin's unhappy marriage). Basic facts are rendered, short biographies of major painters are here, as well as some historical background (for example, the Aesthetic Movement and Oscar Wilde).
But this book has its weaker points. Mr. Christopher Wood does not specify what he means by "Pre-Rafaelite style"; sometimes it appears as he only means close adherence to nature and precise detailing. But what would he say then about German Biedermeier or French Neo-Grecs? The text overall is too smooth, it does not take into consideration newer approaches to art history (Norman Bryson's studies of pictures as sign systems, for example). So if you want a problem book, a challenging essay, you better look to Elizabeth Prettejohn's study. This one is just an introductory survey aimed at a general reader -- but a pretty good introduction, I might add.

This is a lovely book about the Pre-Raphaelites. The pictures in the book are beautiful, & I like the way the Pre-Raphaelite movement is broken up into sections showing how it progressed & changed through the years. A very informative book.

This is a stunningly beautiful book filled with incredibly beautiful art. The narrative text is well written.

This book is the most amazing introduction to the Pre-Raphaelites! The pictures are absolutely amazing, especially since this is an over-sized book and therefore the details in the photos are amazing!

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about the Pre-Raphaeilite Artists (in general) and also to anyone that loves the Pre-Raphaelite works of Art & needs a good introduction!

This is a must have book! I had bought The PreRaphaelites: Inspiration From the Past but this book is much better! The first book did not have the breadth of illustrations and seemed to focus a lot on the sex lives of the artists. Many of them were promiscuous, but their artwork is still awesome. The illustrations in this book are very inclusive and none of the large illustrations is split between two pages, which is true of the other book I got. The illustrations are gorgeous here and plentiful and the text is intelligent and informative without being too "heavy." I can't recommend this book highly enough for someone who enjoys the PreRaphaelites (and perhaps like me, wishes artists today had the same color sense, high ideals and delight in nature).