When I’m dying for a reason to be cranky, I look at paintings by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They were roughly the contemporaries of the Impressionists, but with little interest in the observed world. The Pre-Raphaelites were fantasists for the repressed Victorian age. They painted women as low-browed, passive, mysterious, tragic, seductive, doomed and sensuous. With some exceptions (including Ford Madox Brown’s The Last of England) the Pre-Raphaelites painted cloying sentimentality and rampant romanticism. And they invented how we see historical England: knights in shining armor and noble ladies with flowing hair, living out rigid gender roles in castles bathed in golden light.
Almost none of that comes from actual medieval life.
The Pre-Raphaelites weren’t trying to teach history. They were reacting against the Industrial Revolution. To artists like John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Edward Burne-Jones, medieval themes represented the beauty and romance sadly destroyed by Blake’s “dark satanic mills.” Then there’s Frederic Leighton, who exploited classical themes to paint scantily clad beauties.
The real medieval world was cold, dirty, violent and—by modern standards—desperately poor. Disease was common. Life expectancy was short.
On the other hand, Victorian gender roles were psychologically and socially more oppressive than in the Middle Ages. That’s where the Pre-Raphaelites did their most blatant lying. Medieval women lacked legal rights, but so did most men. Women’s labor was essential to the family unit. In contrast, the Victorians actively stripped middle-class women of economic agency.
Yet the images created by the Pre-Raphaelites became so powerful that they helped to permanently shape our view of medieval life.
Artists don’t just record culture. They create it.
Ask someone to describe a dinosaur and they’ll likely talk about a giant reptile covered in scales. Much of that visual imagery can be traced back to Charles R. Knight. He worked closely with paleontologists in the early twentieth century. His colorful, lively murals and illustrations appeared in museums, books, magazines and classrooms throughout the world.
Unlike the Pre-Raphaelites, Knight was extraordinarily diligent in his research. However, our scientific knowledge at the time was slim. Scientists thought dinosaurs were giant reptiles, so his dinosaurs looked like giant reptiles.
Today, evidence suggests that many dinosaur species possessed feathers or feather-like structures. Current science says that birds are the last dinosaurs. Yet the image of the scaly dinosaur remains embedded in popular culture thanks to Knight’s skill and popularity as a painter.
There’s a lesson in this for us
We often talk about art as if it merely reflects reality. In fact, art determines what reality looks like in our collective imagination. For example, how much do movies and television shape what you think you know about the world?
Sometimes those visions are accurate. Sometimes they’re whimsical. Sometimes they’re harmful. Often, they’re a mixture of fact and fiction.
Once a compelling image takes hold, it can persist for decades or even centuries. That’s the extraordinary power of all art, including painting.
Registration is now open for workshops in 2026! Reserve your spot:
- Advanced Plein Air Painting | Rockport, ME, July 13-17, 2026
- Sea & Sky | Acadia National Park, ME, August 2–7, 2026
- Find your Authentic Voice in Plein Air | Berkshires, MA, August 10-14, 2026
- New! Color Clinic 2026 | Rockport, ME, October 3-4, 2026
- New! Composition Week 2026 | Rockport, ME, October 5-9, 2026
Can’t commit to a full workshop? Work online at your own pace:
I agree Carol! Art can change our perceptions of life for the good or the bad! I find hope in the fact that in the right hands, we as artists can work powerfully for the common good changing each others vision to a healthy and inspiring one. I know the art pieces on my walls have inspired me throughout my lifetime just as what we watch on TV and in the movies can work for good or bad. You decide what you are open to daily ! And it is different for each and every person. Or is it? What or who creates our standard or motivator?
It’s fine as long as the messenger is operating in a good spirit. The social cues can often be subtle and damaging. I’m reminded of how Mary Magdalene has been cast as a “penitent prostitute” even though the Bible says no such thing about her. It’s such a part of our culture myth that people can’t let it go.
I have never seen the painting ‘flaming June’ before and I absolutely love it, because of the colors of course. I won’t bore you with the reasons but am sitting here with a smile of amazement at this treasure. Now off to read about it.
Hah! We’ll have to agree to disagree.
OK, Linda, I’ll grant you that the orange paint is just great.
I try to paint what I feel about what I see always trying to build skill. In doing so it does make a statement. I think it’s interesting to challenge myself and say, what if it was this way or that way and how does that change the perspective or statement.
Btw I love the sunset boat painting you showed in class. You said it’s gone to its rightful owner. So lucky!
Thank you, Lauren!