Ford Madox Brown had already pioneered a style of painting which came to be known as Pre-Raphaelite before the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in 1848. His beautifully observed landscapes anticipated the open-air effects of the Impressionists. His art was anti-academic, rejecting easy solutions, prettiness, and conventional Victorian formulae. He depicted children without sentimentality and poor people without condescension. This major monograph provides a general introduction to Brown's art based on new research; all of his important paintings are included, each one is illustrated and described.

Contributions by: Kenneth Bendiner, Angela Thirlwell