15 OCTOBER 1948, Page 17

THE PRE-RAPHAELITES

SIR,—Surely Mr. Derek Patmore in his delightful article on the Pre- Raphaelites is hardly correct in describing the movement as a " tragedy." As a matter of fact, Mr. Gaunt in his second edition called his book The Pre-Raphaelite Dream. Possibly the latter part of Rossetti's life might be described as a tragedy, but in all other respects there was success, and the ideas for which the Brotherhood stood—resistance to stylised tradition—became absorbed in the general artistic outlook of the country.—Yours faithfully, GEOFFREY LE M. MANDER. Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton.