Ford Madox Brown

Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) is known predominantly for his close association, from 1848, with the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" and for his masterpiece, "The Last of England" (1852-1855), with its poignant imagery of a young emigrant couple aboard ship taking their last sight of home – portraits of the artist himself and his wife. This fully illustrated catalogue provides the first complete coverage of all of Madox Brown's work. Madox Brown's early works were admired by the young Dante Gabriel Rossetti, through whom he came into contact with the artists of the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood". This association was to confirm his own interests and experiments in outdoor light effects and led to the glowing palette of his great paintings of the 1850s: "Work", "An English Autumn Afternoon" and "The Last of England". His interests also embraced decorative design and in the 1860s he was a founder member of the now famous decorating firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. All aspects of his documented work, extant or now lost-sight-of, are presented in this magnificent catalogue, which includes a section on Madox Brown's frame designs (by Lynn Roberts). The artist's diary and his largely unpublished correspondence with associates and patrons provide a fascinating insight into his ideas and plan of work. A tour de force of scholarship, this book will be of immense value to scholars of nineteenth-century British art.