The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood

This absorbing work, undiminished by its clear but reasoned feminist approach, is essential for serious collections in art history, women's studies, or literature. Three carefully researched chapters (``Youth,'' ``Marriage,'' ``Maturity'') reconstruct the forgotten lives of six women who were integral to the pre-Raphaelite movement. Elizabeth Sidall, Emma Madox Borwn, Annie Miller, Fanny Cornforth, Janey Morris, and Georgiana Burne-Jones are validated as individuals with their own lives and creative needs, not simply as romanticized adjuncts to their better-known male companions. Interestingly enough, despite their putative beauty and allure, these women were often chosen as models because of their plainness or availability; yet they became the Victorian feminine ideal.