Victorian Art

Victorian Art refers to the period of artistic production during the reign of Queen Victoria in Britain between 1837 and 1901. It is a term which is applicable to a number of movements and genre including: Pre-Raphaelite Art, the Aesthetic Movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement and Romanticism.

This period during history in Great Britain is often described as the Second English Renaissance. In addition to the increase in intellectual and political activity, there was renewed interest in the classical past. During this time Victorian Classicism was one of the dominant styles where artists were influenced by the visual arts of Western Classical antiquity.

In Victorian Classical paintings, subject matter was typically borrowed from Classical lore and mythology, or histories of Ancient Greece and Rome. Costumes and architectural elements were modeled after works surviving from antiquity and were painted with as much accuracy as possible. Works were infused however with a whimsical and romantic edge and influence. Similar to Pre-Raphaelite painting, they also incorporated a moralistic theme or lesson such as the Victorian ‘Fallen Woman,’ castaways or social outcasts.

Fairy painting was also a popular genre during the Victorian period of art. Fairy painting featured fairies and fairy tale scenes, typically in woodland or mystical settings with extreme attention to detail. Subject matter was often taken from literature or theatrical arrangements; the fantastical works of Shakespeare including A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest were particularly popular. The genre was deeply rooted in the similar literary and theatrical influences of Romanticism and in turn influenced the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.

Notable Victorian artists include: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Edward Burne-Jones, John Collier, Richard Dadd, Herbert Draper, Arthur Drummond, John William Godward, Frederic Leighton, Albert Joseph Moore, Edward Poynter, Wiliam Reynolds-Stephens, Solomon J. Solomon, Thomas Ralph Spence, Arthur Wardle, John William Waterhouse and George Frederick Watts.