Painting for Reputation: The Pre-Raphaelites, John Ruskin, and the Victorian Press

Abstract

Offers an explanation for the objections of the contemporary press to the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Claims the press approved of the method used by other contemporary painters who emphasized “finish” but composed their canvases with areas of greater and lesser interest; the techniques used by the PRB, in which the entire surface was covered with equally minute detail, was found objectionable, largely because it presented a leveling effect to which the contemporary press strongly objected.