The Brotherhood was only the beginning of what would evolve into future artistic movements, such as the Arts & Crafts movement. While in their early days they were criticized and discriminated against, their work was more widely accepted by the public into the late 19th-early 20th centuries. The boundaries between poetry, literature, and art were traversed and became synonymous with each other in the works of John William Waterhouse, Edward Burne-Jones, Simeon Solomon, and several others. Rossetti even mentored William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones in his later career, each of them going on to make their mark on art history. Tennyson, Shakespeare, Wilde, and Arthurian legends were the sources of inspiration that continued to influence this second generation of Pre-Raphaelite artists.  

With the evolution of the Pre-Raphaelite philosophies came a movement called the Arts & Crafts Movement. Several Pre-Raphaelite artists were involved and brought their beliefs to how industrialization and manufacturing was severely altering the decorative arts. The Pre-Raphaelites were thinkers and were highly aware of the way art was being taught and portrayed on a grander scale. They sought to reform the way they thought about art and practiced it, which spread into the Arts & Crafts movement. The Arts and Crafts movement in Britain was born out of an increasing understanding that society needed to adopt a different set of priorities in relation to the manufacture of objects. Its leaders wanted to develop products that not only had more integrity, but were also made in a less dehumanizing way. William Morris, the husband of Jane Morris, became one of the leading pioneers in design and manufacturing during this time. It is clear that even into the late 1800s, early 1900s, and even today, the Pre-Raphaelites continued to inspire and influence British artists. 

Big Ideas & Final Questions

Now that you have gained a substantial understanding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their ideologies, do you think they successfully accomplished the changes they wished to see in the art world? 

In what ways do you believe you see their influence in later art periods and how? 

Is this an important art era to study within the larger art history context?