The Victorian Art

28/02/2014

The Pre- Raphaelites Brotherhood were rebellions against the Victorian Art Period. The Victorians knew that life was changing so they recorded periods in that time so people from different generations will see how the Victorians lived. Queen Victoria had ruled over 64 Years as a Queen, 1837-1901

Queen Victoria, 64 Years as a Queen, 1837-1901

In the 19th Century Britain was on the move. During this time many developments was done such as towns were getting more and more bigger, and even new machines were being developed. But many people were living like animals in the streets.

Luke Fildes is an artist that wanted to show different kind of emotion and how people were living during these times. The painting Applicants For Admission To a Casual Ward is a painting that Fildes saw on a winter night in the streets of London. This painting is forcing the viewer to look at the poor, but in the Victorian times the poor people were noting. Luke Fildes wanted to show that people like these were only good to work in the the work house.

Luke Fildes, Applicants For Admission To a Casual Ward, oil on canvas,
571mm x 940mm, Tate Collection, After 1908

When artists wanted to sell their work to Rich people the sense of the painting was in a happy way so the client would be more happy and satisfied with the piece of art that he bought. A news paper engraving by Herbert Van Herkamer is showing old women suffering during work in the Victorian times, but when the artist had the opportunity to sell this type of painting, he gave a sense of happiness in the painting by making the old women look happy, with a smile on there faces, a vase of flowers and a cup of tea.

The Engraving on the Newspapers, Westminster Union, Herbert Van Herkamer

Herbert Van Herkamer, A Scene in the Westminster Union.

Reference....

- Jeremy Paxman 2004, The Victorians,2009 EO1, Painting The Towns. [video online]. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmP9KL7o9A [Accessed on: Jan 5 2011]