The Pre-Raphaelites – Beauty, Myth and Legend – £15

This two hour session will explore the wonderful worlds of beauty, myth and legend evoked through the paintings of The Pre-Raphaelites. The original founding members included John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman- Hunt and influenced other artists such as Edward Burne- Jones and John William Waterhouse. Each artist, in their own unique style and artistic expression, sought to reclaim something of a lost past, fast disappearing through growing industrialisation.

They wanted to create works of art which had an ethereal, dream-like quality, but most profoundly, they also wanted to return to a sense of beauty in the world, to a sense of soul and the imagination, by bringing the visionary worlds of poetry, literature and fairy tales to life through art. The great Arthurian legends, Shakespeare, Tennyson – and of course, angels- were all rich sources of inspiration.

This class will take a voyage through the imaginative landscapes of the great Pre-Raphaelite works of art and consider that when beauty, myth and legend is expressed through art, is it possible to communicate something of great ontological importance not otherwise possible? We will consider the necessity for myths and legends to give life a greater picture of meaning, and the role and nature of beauty, not as an accessory, but as an expression of something much deeper.
There will be time for group discussions as well as imaginative engagement and writing.