Rienzi vowing to obtain justice for the death of his young brother, slain in a skirmish between the Colonna and the Orsini factions

Rienzi vowing to obtain justice for the death of his young brother, slain in a skirmish between the Colonna and the Orsini factions (or simply, Rienzi) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the English artist William Holman Hunt, produced in 1849 and currently in a private collection.

This painting was the first of Hunt's works to include 'PRB' (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) on the canvas. The extremely long title was not atypical of Victorian paintings, especially history paintings.

History Hunt took his subject from the 1835 novel Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes, by Bulwer Lytton,Several of Bulwer-Lytton's novels were made into operas, with Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen being composed by Richard Wagner, and eventually becoming more famous than the novel. about Cola di Rienzi (1313–1354), a papal notary who led a popular uprising in Rome. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition of 1849 (alongside Millais' Lorenzo and Isabella) with the following excerpt from the novel, describing the hero's reaction to the incident:

In 1847, Hunt repeatedly sat up all night to finish John Ruskin's Modern Painters (1843);Composed of five volumes, the second one was influential on the early development of Pre-Raphaelitism in Rienzi he attempted to put into practice all that he had read. The background particularly was painted in careful detail trying to satisfy Ruskin's stringent requirements. As can be seen from some of Hunt's later work, such as The Hireling Shepherd (1851) and The Awakening Conscience (1854), the artist often experienced great difficulty with painting his figures in natural poses. This is evident here in the portrayal of the soldier on the far left of the painting.Cf. J. Bronkhurst, William Holman Hunt : A Catalogue Raisonné (2006).

See also List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings

References

Bibliography

External links Rienzi in the Rossetti Archive Rienzi at VictorianWeb Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource Large online collection of about fifty paintings on canvas and works on paper of William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt in the "History of Art" — a paper by Albert Boime published originally in The Art Bulletin 84 no1 94-114 Mr 2002. Phryne's list of pictures by Hunt The Pre-Raph Pack