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Millais’ Modern Christ: Religion And Critical Responses To The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood In Nineteenth Century England, Ashley Morse

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how the press reviewed Pre-Raphaelite paintings in the years 1849 and 1850 with a partial review of 1851. In particular, the focus is on the controversial painting Christ in the House of his Parents by John Everett Millais. This painting became a physical symbol of the many fears that the new modern age brought to Victorian England. Catholic, Irish, and Protestant tensions had been mounting throughout the nineteenth century in England prior to the debut of the painting. Politics and law were beginning to relax restraints on Catholicism in addition to the increased immigration of Irish Catholics. …