National Gallery of Art

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: Many artists of the Pre-Raphaelite circle not only involved themselves in book design and illustration but were also highly regarded poets in their own right. Organized to complement Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900, this installation includes books of poetry by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris, wood-engraved illustrations by several Pre-Raphaelite artists, and material related to the Kelmscott Press (established by Morris in 1891). Beautifully illustrated books from this press are displayed alongside Morris' elaborate ornament designs and his own manuscript illumination inspired by medieval tomes. Featured works are from the National Gallery of Art Library and the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware Library.

Organization: Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Brochure: Pre-Raphaelites and the Book by Dianne Waggoner, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2013

Image: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Palace of Art, woodcut in Alfred Tennyson, Poems (London: E. Moxon, 1857), National Gallery of Art Library, Gift of Mark Samuels Lasner