No Sex Please, We are PRB!

The BBC has done a six part series called Desperate Romantics based on the founding, rise and fall of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It is a weekly series and covers a period from the later 1840s up to 1860s. The production values are good, although I kept looking at some of the scenes and thinking is that Greenwich college? Having been to quite a lot of historical places, you start to see the same places.

My overall impression is the attempt to spice up the story, but what gets lost is the main part of the story are the paintings. Having seen an earlier programme about the PRB, only half hour, it told you why these paintings were shocking at the time. Milliais' Christ in the house of his parents was the main example in the first programme, a painting I have walked passed often and not really look at closely.


Exploring the BBC website about the series, I found that there was an art historian discussing this picture as well as others highlighting a painting per an episode. I found these vignettes more interesting that the programme.

I found the acting good and the production values well done, but do we need all this romping? A little more why these painting were revolutionary and maybe a little more historical context as well. Whenever Rosetti is wandering around I keep wondering where the rest of the family are? Also Millais trip to the highlands with the Ruskins was distorted, only Ruskin going 'up north' to Scotland.

This leads to the question of how the story distorts the events, this article discusses how Hollywood distorts the facts for entertainment. Of course, Hollywood is not the only place, where this has or is still taking place. Are the facts more important story?