The aesthetic movement during the Victorian era of England, represented by the school of William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, had a permanent influence on English decorative art. One of the tenants of the Aesthetic movement was to make an art of life.
Two of the models in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's paintings were his sister, Christina Rossetti, as the Madonna, and the female model later to become his wife, Elizabeth Siddal.
Around this same time, Oscar Wilde wrote in his work, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," "All art is quite useless." His statement was intentionally literal, as it was a reflection in keeping with the doctrine "art for art's sake," a phrase coined by the French philosopher Victor Cousin, promoted by writers such as Theophile Gautier, the French poet, and brought into prominence by James McNeill Whistler, an American-born, French-schooled and British-based artist.
Christina Rossetti's poem, "In an Artist's Studio," raises questions about the nature of art. There is much debate over the responsibility of artists to portray life in realistic terms, or by focusing on the idealization of beauty. To this, a quote of Oscar Wilde makes a good point, leaving the question to the individual:
"It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art." -Oscar Wilde
resources:
Damrosch, David, Gen. Ed. "The Longman Anthology of British Literature," Vol. B., 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 756-759.
Online sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde
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