James Collinson was a Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 painter who was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...

 from 1848 to 1850.

Collinson was a devout Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 who was attracted to the devotional and high church

High church

The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...

 aspects of Pre-Raphaelitism. A convert to Catholicism

Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

, Collinson reverted to high Anglicanism

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 in order to marry Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems...

, but his conscience forced his return to Catholicism and the break-up of the engagement. When Millais' painting Christ in the House of his Parents

Christ in the House of His Parents

Christ in the House of His Parents is a painting by John Everett Millais depicting the Holy Family in Saint Joseph's carpentry workshop. The painting was extremely controversial when first exhibited, prompting many negative reviews, most notably one written by Charles Dickens...

was accused of blasphemy

Blasphemy

Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...

, Collinson resigned from the Brotherhood in the belief that it was bringing the Christian religion into disrepute.

During his period as a Pre-Raphaelite, Collinson contributed a long devotional poem to The Germ

The Germ (periodical)

The Germ was a periodical established by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to disseminate their ideas. It was not a success, only existing for four issues between January and April 1850....

and produced a number of religious works, most importantly The Renunciation of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1850). After his resignation Collinson trained for the priesthood at a Jesuit college, but did not complete his studies.

In 1858 he married Eliza Wheeler, the sister in law of the painter John Rogers Herbert

John Rogers Herbert

John Rogers Herbert, RA was an English painter who is most notable as a precursor of Pre-Raphaelitism.-Early career:John Rogers Herbert was born in Maldon, Essex. In 1826, he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy...

, one of the early influences on the Pre-Raphaelites. Returning to his artistic career he painted a number of secular genre painting

Genre painting

Genre works, also called genre scenes or genre views, are pictorial representations in any of various media that represent scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street scenes. Such representations may be realistic, imagined, or...

s, the best-known of which are To Let and For Sale, both of which lightheartedly depict pretty women in situations that suggest moral temptation.

He was secretary of the Society of British Artists from 1861 to 1870. In the latter part of his life he lived in Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

, where he painted The Holy Family

The Holy Family (Collinson painting)

The Holy Family is an oil painting on canvas of the Holy Family by the Pre-Raphaelite artist James Collinson. The painting dates from 1878 when the artist was living in Brittany. The town in the background may be Saint-Malo....

(1878).

See also

• List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings - including the work of James Collinson.
• Jorge L. Contreras, "James Collinson, the Campo Santo and the Birth of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood", Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies, Vol. 15, p.5, 2006

External links

• Phryne's list of paintings in accessible collections in the UK
• The Pre-Raph Pack Discover more about the artists, the techniques they used and a timeline spanning 100 years.