ABSTRACT
During the middle decades of the nineteenth century there was an explosion of fresco and mural painting in British art circles. The revival was inspired by the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster, following its destruction by fire in 1834. Interest in the arts in terms of national prestige had been growing in Britain even before the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster. John Ruskin came to appreciate the fresco and mural painting of many of his contemporaries. This change of heart may have been initiated by watching Watts engaged on a fresco at Little Holland House. With time, painters like Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Burne-Jones were able to dispel Ruskin's apprehensions concerning the emotional integrity of works that assiduously recall the atmosphere of a distant age. Ruskin especially likes the use of black and white, and talks at some length on the beautiful effects created by this at the cathedral in Pisa.
