Everything about John Brett totally explained
John Brett (1831-1902) was a
Pre-Raphaelite painter, mainly notable for his highly detailed landscapes. Brett was born near Reigate on 8 December 1831, the son of an army vet. In 1851 he began lessons in art with
James Duffield Harding, a landscape painter. He also studied with
Richard Redgrave. In 1853 he entered the Royal Academy schools, but was more interested in the ideas of
John Ruskin and
William Holman Hunt, who he met through his friend the poet
Coventry Patmore. Inspired by Hunt's ideal of scientific landscape painting Brett visited Switzerland, where he worked on topographical landscapes and came under the further influence of
John William Inchbold.
In 1858 Brett exhibited
The Stonebreaker, the painting that made his reputation. This depicted a youth smashing stones to create a road-surface, sitting in a brightly lit and brilliantly detailed landscape. The precision of the geological and botanical detail greatly impressed Ruskin, who praised the painting highly, predicting that Brett would be able to paint a masterpiece if he were to visit the
Val d'Aosta in Italy. Partly funded by Ruskin, Brett made the trip to paint the location, exhibiting it in 1859, again to high praise from Ruskin, who bought the painting. Other critics were less effusive, one describing it as a "gravestone for post-Ruskinism".
Brett continued to paint carefully detailed landscape views, staying in Italy on many occasions in the 1860s. He was always keen to stress the scientific precision of his rendering of nature, but often infused it with moral and religious significance, as recommended by Ruskin. In his later years he painted more coastal subjects and seascapes, subjects he came to know well due to his ownership of a 210 ton schooner, Viking (which had a crew of twelve), on which he travelled the
Mediterranean.
During summers in the 1880's Brett rented the castle at
Newport, Pembrokeshire to use as a base for his large family while he painted, sketched and photographed the south and west costs of Wales. An exhibition in 2001 at the
National Museum of Wales,
Cardiff, entitled
John Brett - a Pre-Raphaelite on the Shores of Wales brought together many of the major works from this period of his career.
Brett was also a keen astronomer, having studied the subject from childhood. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Astronomical Society in 1871.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Brett'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://john_brett.totallyexplained.com">John Brett Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
