The Germ

The Germ was a short-lived British periodical founded in 1850 to publish writing and art by members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. It ran for four issues before being renamed Art and Poetry.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood: A group of English artists founded in 1848 to renew art through close observation of nature and earlier traditions. The Brotherhood’s members founded the periodical as a vehicle for their ideas.
Pre-Raphaelitism: An artistic movement that sought vivid detail, close study of nature, and sincerity in art. The periodical gave the movement an early platform beyond painting.
The Blessed Damozel: A poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti about a dead woman longing for her lover from heaven. Rossetti first published this poem in The Germ’s opening issue.
William Michael Rossetti: An English writer and critic who helped found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and edited The Germ. His editorial work held together the journal’s short publication run.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: An English poet and painter who helped found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Rossetti contributed poetry and helped shape the journal’s literary program.
Art and Poetry: The title adopted for the final two issues of The Germ in 1850. This later title made the journal’s combined visual and literary purpose explicit.
Hand and Soul: A prose tale by Dante Gabriel Rossetti about an Italian painter seeking spiritual truth through art. The Germ published this story, which dramatizes the periodical’s artistic ideals.
Elizabeth Gaskell: An English novelist known for works including North and South and Cranford. Her review of Sidonia von Bork brought an established novelist’s voice into the journal.
William Holman Hunt: An English painter and a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Hunt helped establish the circle whose work the periodical presented.
Victorian periodical: A magazine or journal published in Britain during the Victorian era, from 1837 to 1901. The Germ was an experimental example of Victorian literary and artistic publishing.

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