PRB: Stands for Precocious Rowdy Boys?

I've been saving up examples for a while now for this series of posts. Ok, originally it was going to be just one post, but there are so many wonderful examples, I think this deserves at least a few.

Pre-Raphaelite Humor.

I've already done a post about the way the Pre-Raphaelites loved to draw cartoons of each other and themselves. And I have a few more examples of that to share as well. But beyond that, there are so many other examples of how the Brotherhood was, at times geniuses, and at times, just a rowdy bunch of boys who loved to pull pranks and laugh.

I'll begin with an example from Jen Parrish, who overheard a tour guide of Trinity Church in Boston pointing this out to a tour group. Jen (and me too!) found it hilarious.

See the stained glass window by Edward Burne-Jones above? It depicts David's charge to Solomon. Nothing strange there.

But....look closer:


....Ned depicted the head of Goliath as his dear friend William Morris. (chuckle) I have to think there was a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor by that choice.

Of course, as many people already know, the very name "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" was arguably originally chosen as a joke. And it was joked that the P.R.B. could be put on a sign outside the front door, so that those not in the know would assume it meant "Please Ring Bell."

Boys will be boys, I suppose.