Pre-Raphaelite Typology

In recent decades, typology has come to be recognized as a major component of Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics. Beginning with a reconsideration of the impact of John Ruskin’s Modern Painters, this article theorizes the typological dimensions of works by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle as tiers in a radial category with scriptural typology at its core. Among the artistic and literary works considered in detail are Hunt’s The Scapegoat, Millais’ The Return of the Dove to the Ark, Rossetti’s ‘Ave,’ and James Collinson’s ‘The Child Jesus.’ Detailed consideration is also given to Rossetti’s artistic manifestos, ‘Hand and Soul’ and ‘Old and New Art,’ as reflections of a mixture of ideas derived from sources that include British-American transcendentalism as well as typology.