Birds, Cages and Women in Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite Art

Beschreibung

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, centering on D.G. Rossetti, W.H. Hunt and Sir J.E. Millais, attempted to set itself apart from the Victorian world in which this fraternity lived and painted. So well did it succeed that scholars have failed to see how embedded Victorian attitudes actually are beneath the complicated iconography employed by the artists. This cover-up of their Victorianism is most striking in their attitude toward women. From a completely original point of view, this book analyzes this attitude - and the Brotherhood itself - by focusing on the image of the bird-in-the-cage, a symbol in both art and literature of woman's socio-economic position in 19th century England.
Using the Victorian world as a backdrop for comparison, this trenchant study also unravels the unusual relationships the Pre-Raphaelites had with the women in their lives. Model-poet-lover, these complex figures were depicted surrounded by a rich symbolism, especially the various manifestations of the emblematic bird-in-the-cage.

Autor*in

Eliane Shefer

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Birds Cages Raphaelite Victorian Women

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«'Birds, Cages and Women' is a fascinating study of the position of women in Victorian society as revealed in the art of the Pre-Raphaelite painters as well as in the literature of the period. It is a brilliant art historical examination of the economic, social, and intellectual subjection of at least the middle-and upper-class women in England to the masculine perception of the natural order of things and their own magnanimity. This may sound like a feminist tract, but it is not only entirely and palpably true; Elaine Shefer has described it all with a light air and engaging wit. I found the book illuminating and entirely delightful.» (Milton Brown, C.U.N.Y. Graduate Center)
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