[In this passage from Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, we see Hunt's bitterness at who mistook aesthetic Preraphaelitism inspired by Rossetti for the original, very different movement. (Thackeray created the decorated initial “T”. — George P. Landow.]
The design of Rossetti's "Girlhood of the Virgin" was of Overbeck revivalist character, which no superintendence of mine as to the manner of painting could much affect, and his "Annunciation" still reflected Brown's early Christian phase. The more thorough realisation of form and freer painting of these works, while conferring a naive charm on them, did not make them fundamentally Pre-Raphaelite in character. The first painting designed by Rossetti, and begun in accordance with our aims, was undoubtedly "Found."
Two Annunciations by Nazarenes: Left: Gabriels Verkündigung von Maria [The Annunciation]. Artist: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Engraver: Unknown. 6 x 7 inches. Die Bibel in Bildern (Picture Bible). London: Norgate and Williams, 1856; Leipzig: Georg Wigands, 1860. Right: Ave Maria and Benedicta in Mulieribus. Johann Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869). 1814. Pencil drawing. 30.2 x 40.8 cm. Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel. Kupferstichkabinett. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
The more sensuous phase of taste developed in Rossetti's later period was of hothouse fancifulness, and breathed disdain for the robust, out-of-door growth of native Pre-Raphaelitism. I have seen statements that the difference between the works of Millais and myself, as opposed to the Rossetti school, arose only from our inability to ascend to the fuller purpose of the third member of our Brotherhood. [II, 436]
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Bibliography
Hunt, William Holman. Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1905.
Last modified 9 January 2022