Pre-Raphaelite exhibits at Oxford and Cambridge: Pre-Raphaelites and Italy and Pre-Raphaelite Portraits by John Brett

My family and I enjoyed a wonderful--if slightly frenetic--weekend visiting family in Washington state. It was quite the whirlwind weekend - shopping, a wedding and visiting a couple of friends. We had a great time though. Seattle is a beautiful city, and Washington is so pretty in general...but it did go by so quickly that the whole thing was a bit of a blur. Fortunately, Edmonton was so cloudy when I got back that I feel like I'm still in Washington! The strangest part is that, even though I was only gone for a weekend, when I returned, Edmonton was already in the middle of Autumn. Trees are changing colors and losing their leaves already! I'm excited though - Fall really is one of my favourite times of year. 

Autumn will always call to mind the beginning of Fall classes, and now that I'm no longer in school, I tend to look for stand-ins. And usually that means new museum exhibitions! I received an email from a reader (thank you, Phillip), about two upcoming Pre-Raphaelite exhibitions in England. One is being held at Cambridge, the other at Oxford. Where better to soak up a bit of the excitement of the back-to-school atmosphere than at two Pre-Raphaelite art exhibits at England's top universities? 

The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy will be held at the University of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum and is scheduled to run from September 16 - December 5, 2010. The exhibit will feature works by John Ruskin, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and a host of other Pre-Raphaelite luminaries, and will examine the relationship these artists had with Italy. (For example, I find it fascinating that, while Rossetti grew up speaking Italian in an Italian-English home, he never actually visited Italy himself. Ruskin, on the other hand, was a frequent visitor and champion of Italian art and culture). This promises to be an excellent opportunity to see a number of Pre-Raphaelite works held by museums around the globe. 

The second exhibit I would like to share with readers is entitled Objects of Affection: Pre-Raphaelite Portraits by John Brett. John Brett is best known for his landscape paintings, but his portraits are the main focus of this exhibit. Interestingly, Brett was also a pioneer in the field of photography, and his photographic portraits will also be on display. This show is being held at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum and runs from now until November 28, 2010. 

These exhibits look so interesting, and I must say I'm excited to see Pre-Raphaelites being the focus of simultaneous showcases at Oxford and Cambridge. Now, if only they would focus a bit on improving the online version of these exhibits for those of us who are a bit too busy with our families to cross the ocean to see them in person...

John Brett, Val d'Aosta, 1858 - image courtesy Wikimedia