This important book accompanies the major exhibition of the same name, opening at the Ashmolean Museum on 16 September 2010 - the first to explore the fascination of the Pre-Raphaelite painters with Italy: its landscape, art and culture.<BR><BR>Covering the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the broadest sense, from its foundation in 1848 to the second generation (including Burne-Jones and Crane), it also includes the works of a group of English artists known as the Etruscans, who were followers of the Italian painter Giovanni Costa.<BR><BR>Ruskin, whose awareness of Italy was both imaginative and visceral, and who made numerous trips to Italy throughout his life, emerges as a key influence on the relationship of the Pre-Raphaelite painters to Italian culture. Ruskin's own drawings provide a personal record of his engagement with the places he visited.<BR><BR>This volume does not simply function as a guide to the exhibition, but can be read on its own as a title which explores the relationship of the Pre-Raphaelite brothers to Italy and to each other in a fresh and original way. It looks at what being in the Brotherhood meant to its members, and what the public understood by it.<BR><BR>Featuring a significant number of works from private collections not previously reproduced, The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy is essential reading for all students of 19th-century art and culture.