Full Description
Painting the Bible is the first book to investigate the transformations that religious painting underwent in mid-Victorian England. It charts the emergence of a Protestant realist painting in a period of increasing doubt, scientific discovery and biblical criticism. The book analyzes the position of religious painting in academic discourse and assesses the important role Pre-Raphaelite work played in redefining painting for mid-Victorian audiences. This original study brings together a wide range of material from high art and popular culture. It locates the controversy over the religious works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in debates about academicism, revivalism and caricature. It also investigates William Holman Hunt's radical, orientalist-realist approach to biblical subject matter which offered an important updating of the image of Christ that chimed with the principles of liberal Protestantism. The book will appeal to scholars and students across disciplines such as art history, literature, history and cultural studies. Its original research, rigorous analysis and accessible style will make it essential reading for anyone interested in questions of representation and belief in mid-Victorian England.
Contents
Contents: Introduction: Translating the Bible for the age: Themes at once sacred and stale: the problem of religious painting; Painting the Bible: issues and methodologies; Part I Religious Painting and the High Art Ideal: Tradition, modification and innovation: Under the sanction of a Royal Academy: the lectures of Henry Howard and Charles Robert Leslie; The practice of religious painting and the periodical press; The case of Benjamin Robert Haydon: the reform of tradition and the quest for public space; Charles Lock Eastlake and the undefinable archquality of sentiment; Modification and innovation: continental influence and matters of genre; Part II The Fascination of Paradox: The Pre-Raphaelite challenge: A kindred simplicity: the search for an expressive language of art; Early Pre-Raphaelite work: Giottesque or grotesque?; A step too far: the signal for a perfect crusade against the PRB; Reading The Carpenter's Shop: a gesture of defiance; Part III The Making of William Holman Hunt as the Painter of Christ: Reconfiguring Christ: history, biography, myth; Illustrating the Bible: a context for Hunt's pictorial concerns; Private motivations: suppressing the religious experience; Public narratives: work, art and the figure of Christ as hero; Experiencing the East; Finding the Saviour, at last; The success of the Saviour: a contemporary reaffirmation of faith; The spheres of art and religion; Epilogue: Ideal subjects glowing with poetry; Notes; Bibliography; Index.
