When book illustrations became as serious as oil painting
In short: Between 1855 and 1875, Britain experienced a massive explosion in fine black and white illustration. For two decades, the line between high art and commercial print blurred, as distinguished artists began to treat the book page with the same intellectual rigor as a canvas in an oil painting.
The period between approximately 1855 and 1875 is often characterized as a 'Golden Age' of British illustration. During these twenty years, the art form transitioned from a secondary craft to a serious occupation. This shift was driven by a growing belief among artists that designing for books was as intellectually demanding and worthwhile as painting in oils. They realized that the narrative elements that had previously preoccupied their paintings could be expressed with high intensity and directness through the medium of illustration.
One of the primary drivers of this movement was the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Their founding principle was to produce 'thoroughly good pictures and statues.' While the establishment—including figures like Charles Dickens—initially derided their work as 'ugly and backward,' the movement eventually became a cornerstone of 19th-century British art. Illustrative excellence was defined by the output of William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and John Everett Millais. Millais, in particular, acted as a catalyst, encouraging his peers to reach levels of intensity that elevated the entire movement.
The era also saw a fundamental shift in the relationship between image and text. By the 1860s, illustrations began to achieve a growing equality with, and sometimes even a domination over, the literature they accompanied. While modern imaginative fiction—such as the Harry Potter series—rarely features full illustrations, Victorian readers were an 'insatiable' audience for poetry, religious works, and novels. During this peak, books were frequently advertised by highlighting both the text and the images as equally vital components of the experience.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Illustration of Millais, the Pre-Raphaelites and the Idyllic School - Dr Paul Goldman
- Also: The Art of Illustration: Millais, the Pre-Raphaelites and the Idyllic School
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