The National Portrait Gallery will open its space to an exhibition dedicated to the Pre-Raphaelite Sisters on October 17. The forthcoming exhibition points out how this 19th-century art movement was not only led by men.
The gallery will open up to the style of artists such as Marie Spartali Stillman, Maria Zambaco, Joanna Wells, Evelyn De Morgan, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Jane Morris and others.
This is the first time that an exhibition chooses to focus on the women of Pre-Raphaelite art, thus revealing to the spectators all the untold stories about them. Every one of them made a significant contribution to the creation of Pre-Raphaelite art and also they had a precious influence on some important works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood itself.
Through the exhibition it will be possible to explore the role that these women played at that time, when too often they were remembered only as models to paint. It aims to shed light on these extraordinary painters who were more than models and muses, but also artists in their own right.
As the curator of the exhibition, Dr Jan Marsh, said: “When people think of Pre-Raphaelitism they think of beautiful women with lustrous hair and loose gowns gazing soulfully from the picture frame or in dramatic scenes painted in glowing colours. Far from passive mannequins, as members of an immensely creative social circle, these women actively helped form the Pre-Raphaelite movement as we know it“.
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