The Pre-Raphaelites: Art & Sexual Liberation
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
History Hit
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2023
⏱️ 36 minutes
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Summary
The Pre-Raphaelites: Art & Sexual Liberation
If there’s one thing we like to embrace on this podcast, it’s a slice of controversy. Which is why today’s topic of the Pre-Raphaelites movement is such a joy to explore: this was the swinging 60s of the Victorian era.
A time when a group of artists, including Dante Rossetti and John Millais, refused to conform to the artistic norms at the time, and instead embraced sexuality and nature in a style that was more luscious and medieval than modern.
What exactly did they stand for? Who were the women that inspired them? And why did the establishment’s feathers become so ruffled?
Today, Kate is Betwixt the Sheets with legendary art historian Jan Marsh to find out.
Senior producer: Charlotte Long. Producer: Sophie Gee. Mixed by Stuart Beckwith.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello my lovely bitricsters, it's me, Kate Lister. I am here once more as I always am from now |
| 0:06.7 | until forevermore, or at least until we get cancelled, with your fair dues warning. Fair dues |
| 0:14.5 | everybody, this is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults in an adulty way and you |
| 0:19.4 | should be an adult too, surrounded by other adults in a completely adult environment. |
| 0:24.8 | And if you're not, then you need to just turn this off right now. If you're a sensitive |
| 0:31.6 | disposition, I don't know why you listen to this, but you need to turn it off. Actually, I don't |
| 0:36.0 | think that we're getting that naughty today. I think we've been more shocking than this one. We're |
| 0:41.1 | talking about the women of the pre-raffelite art movement, the ones that inspired the paintings, |
| 0:47.6 | and the ones that were doing a fair bit of painting themselves. So we're not super shocking, |
| 0:52.8 | but obviously, you know, the deal by now, we're going to be wandering into some vaguely |
| 0:57.6 | scandalous territory, I'll be swearing, and there's probably will be some shocking stuff come |
| 1:02.1 | in your way that I've just forgotten was in there. And with all of that in mind, |
| 1:06.1 | the tricksters, if you're still with me, then I am ready to do this if you are. |
| 1:13.1 | One of the things that you might not know about me, and I know that I do definitely over share |
| 1:17.3 | on this podcast, and I'm going to do it again right now, is that I used to be a life model. |
| 1:21.9 | For years, when I was funding my way through university, I would pose in the knip in front of |
| 1:26.5 | various art groups around the north of England. Proper art groups as well, not just, you know, |
| 1:31.4 | random people, so they were painters and decorators. Actual artists ranging from A-level students, |
| 1:37.4 | university students, through to hobbyists and little art groups that like to do it on the side, |
| 1:42.4 | and I had a lot of fun doing it. But the reason that I did it is because I thought it would be |
| 1:46.3 | easy money. I'll pay you 20 quid, you sit still, jobs are good, and well, one of the things |
| 1:52.0 | that I learned really quickly, and anyone who has been a life model close or otherwise will empathise |
... |
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