Lewis carved while living in Rome, surrounded by examples of both
classical and Renaissance art. It represents two freed African Ameri-
can slaves. The man stands heroically in a contrapposto stance rem-
iniscent of classical statues. His right hand rests on the shoulder of
the kneeling woman, and his left hand holds aloft a broken manacle
and chain as literal and symbolic references to his former servitude.
Produced four years after President Lincoln’s issuance of the Eman-
cipation Proclamation,Forever Free (originally titled The Morning of
Liberty) was widely perceived as an abolitionist statement. However,
other factors caution against an overly simplistic reading. Because
Lewis was female, African American, and Native American (she was
the daughter of a Chippewa mother and African American father),
scholars have debated the degree to which the sculptor attempted to
inject a statement about African American gender relationships into
this statue. For example, does the kneeling position of the woman
represent Lewis’s acceptance of female subordination?
Lewis’s accomplishments as a sculptor speak to the increasing ac-
cess to training that was available to women in the 19th century. Edu-
cated at Oberlin College (the first American college to grant degrees to
women), Lewis financed her trip to Rome with the sale of medallions
and marble busts. Her success in a field dominated by white male
artists is a testament to both her skill and her determination.
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Realism did not appeal to all artists, however. In England a group of
painters who called themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood re-
fused to be limited to the contemporary scenes strict Realists por-
trayed. These artists chose instead to represent fictional, historical,
and fanciful subjects but with a significant degree of convincing
illusion.
JOHN EVERETT MILLAISOne of the founders of the Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood was John Everett Millais(1829–1896).
So painstakingly careful was Millais in his study of visual facts
closely observed from nature that Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
called him “the poet of meticulous detail.” The Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood, organized in 1848, wished to create fresh and sincere
art, free from what its members considered the tired and artificial
manner propagated in the academies by the successors of Raphael.
Influenced by the well-known critic, artist, and writer John Ruskin
(1819–1900), the Pre-Raphaelites agreed with his distaste for the
materialism and ugliness of the contemporary industrializing world.
They also expressed appreciation for the spirituality and idealism (as
well as the art and artisanship) ofpast times, especially the Middle
Ages and the Early Renaissance.
Millais’s Ophelia (FIG. 30-42) garnered enthusiastic praise
when he exhibited it in the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855,
where Courbet set up his Pavilion of Realism. The subject, from
Shakespeare’s Hamlet(4.7.176–179), is the drowning of Ophelia,
who, in her madness, is unaware of her plight:
Her clothes spread wide,
And mermaidlike awhile they bore her up—
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress.
To make the pathos of the scene visible, Millais became a faithful and
feeling witness of its every detail, reconstructing it with a lyricism
worthy of the original poetry. Although the scene is fictitious, Millais
worked diligently to present it with unswerving fidelity to visual fact.
He painted the background on-site at a spot along the Hogsmill
River in Surrey. For the figure of Ophelia, Millais had a friend lie in a
heated bathtub full of water for hours at a stretch.DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTIAnother founder of the Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood was Dante Gabriel Rossetti(1828–1882),
who established an enviable reputation as both a painter and poet.
Like other members of the group, Rossetti focused on literary and
biblical themes in his art. He also produced numerous portraits ofRealism 80930-42John
Everett Millais,
Ophelia,1852. Oil on
canvas, 2 6 3 8 .
Tate Gallery, London.
Millais was a founder
of the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood, whose
members refused
to be limited to the
contemporary scenes
strict Realists por-
trayed. The drowning
of Ophelia is a Shake-
speareansubject.1 ft.