Programs & Events

New Art History Course – Radical Beauty: The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites

Join Dr. Sophie Lynford, newly appointed Annette Woolard-Provine Curator of the Bancroft Collection, for an art history course devoted to the Pre-Raphaelites. This four-part course examines the impact and legacy of the Pre-Raphaelites, a group of nineteenth-century artists who sought to reform British art. The first class begins with the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 and explores how the group sought to revive painting styles found in Italian art before the Renaissance painter, Raphael. Subsequent classes will address key moments in Pre-Raphaelitism as well as in the later Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts movements. Participants will also be introduced to the Delaware Art Museum’s Bancroft Collection, the largest holdings of Pre-Raphaelite art outside of the United Kingdom, and learn how this celebrated collection was formed. No prior knowledge of art history or the Pre-Raphaelite movement is required.

La Bella Mano (detail), 1875. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882). Oil on canvas, 62 × 46 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935.