Early in the 1840s, the influential English critic John Ruskin urged artists to follow nature with exact discipline, painting landscape subjects out of doors in precise detail. An inspirational figure for the artists who became known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in Great Britain, Ruskin also exerted enormous influence in America. Though less well known than their counterparts across the Atlantic, Ruskin’s American followers produced a substantial body of work in oil and watercolor, including detailed figural compositions, stunning landscapes, and innovative still lifes.

More than three decades have passed since the Brooklyn Museum’s groundbreaking exhibition introduced this group of artists to scholars and the public. Since that time, a substantial number of works by the founding members of the group have come to light. Scholarship on the Pre-Raphaelite movement and American art during the second half of the 19th century has expanded to consider the social and cultural history that is critical to an understanding of the mission and works of these artists. This catalog looks afresh at this innovative but under-explored chapter in American art history.