A Pre-Raphaelite Circle

'Tennyson and Holman Hunt, Carlyles, Rossettis and any number of celebrated Trevelyans people these pages; and Mr Trevelyan's handling of their comings and goings is masterly.' Hilary Spurling


Pauline Trevelyan, friend and patroness of so many in the Pre-Raphaelite circle, has long been an intriguing figure to scholars of that period. The daughter of a poor parson, she was married to Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, a landowner-cum-scientist twenty years her senior and her opposite in character. Herself an artist, writer and critic, she spotted Swinburne's talents when he was still a schoolboy, and commissioned important works from Rossetti, Woolner and others. From her immense correspondence we learn much about John Ruskin.

A Pre-Raphaelite Circle reproduces a late-unearthed letter from Ruskin that is revelatory in respect of his marriage. For this and many other reasons it is a crucial work of reference for students of Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites.