The first 12 years of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement are the most revolutionary and significant. Julian Halsby looks in detail at how the young Millais, Rossetti and Holman Hunt break with the past and turn their backs on the traditions of academic and romantic painting.

He will show us how they discover true colour from direct observation of nature and how they were the first artists to paint in the open air.  In particular, he looks at the drawings of Millais to see how the Pre-Raphaelite style evolved. We will examine the role of John Ruskin as art critic and defender of the Brotherhood.

We will also look at the paintings of Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes and Henry Wallis as well as the landscapes of Brett, Boyce and Inchbold and we will see the influence that the Pre-Raphaelites exerted in France and wider Europe.