This winter, explore a remarkable free exhibition in the newly refurbished gallery at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. The final show before the University of Birmingham venue once again closes for further exciting redevelopments, Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites engages both the eyes and nose! 

The latest exhibition at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites, boasts both a self-explanatory title and a cutting-edge technological surprise. 

Featuring works by well-known artists like John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, presented alongside masterpieces by less-celebrated names, such as Evelyn de Morgan and Simeon Solomon, the display explores the ways in which Pre-Raphaelite artists depicted scent in their works. 

The exploration is enhanced by a scent machine, located in the gallery, which dispenses fragrances, inspired by the paintings, to individual visitors. 

The Barber, located on campus at the University of Birmingham, has begun a process of significant refurbishment in the last 12 months, with more extensive building improvement works beginning in February. 

This exhibition not only offers an opportunity to explore Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces in a completely new way, but also marks one of the last chances to appreciate the venue’s beautiful building and collections before the start of the next wave of redevelopment, which is scheduled to continue until 2026.

Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites was born from the research of exhibition curator Dr Christina Bradstreet, whose book, Scented Visions, explores the subject. The exhibition demonstrates the ways in which artists portrayed scent and hinted at the meaning behind the depicted smells. In years gone by, the idea of accompanying those works with a bespoke sensory experience, to enhance the viewing of individual paintings, would have been pie-in-the-sky - but this exhibition has a sweet-smelling surprise in store.

Secluded from the gallery entrance stands the scent machine, which delivers three distinctly different perfumes to partaking visitors. The scents have been specially created and are inspired by paintings on the wall opposite. The machine has been provided by Spanish fashion and fragrance house Puig, after their development of AirParfum - a means of dispensing the perfect puff of scented air to a single visitor, at the push of a button. 

The system doesn’t over-saturate the nose and works without filling the room with aroma or launching perfume particles into the atmosphere, which might damage the surface of nearby paintings. Unless you are the person using the machine, it’s impossible to catch the dispensed aroma. It’s worth exploring the masterpieces on display for their own sake, but this olfactory offering brings a new dimension to a traditionally visual-only experience.

The Pre-Raphaelite movement, originally a seven-member brotherhood formed in 1848, inspired artists and followers until the end of the 19th century. Each work in the gallery has an accompanying panel with fascinating insights into the painting and its depictions of scent - informative without being overwhelming or wordy. There are also links to more in-depth essays by Dr Bradstreet.
Scent had surprising implications in the Victorian period, with some smells linked to good or ill health, and even morality.

In the summer of 1858, a phenomenon known as the Great Stink occurred in London, as heat intensified the smell of sewage and industrial run-off into the Thames. Increasing populations in cities spread disease, and the cause was said to be Miasma - bad air and smells actually believed to induce illness. 

One picture in the exhibition - Thoughts Of The Past, painted in 1859 by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope - shows a sex-worker in her tiny room, with the Thames visible through the window. She has planted flowers in pots - perhaps, as the title suggests, preserving a memory of a happier and sweeter-smelling time in her youth. The painting alludes to multiple Victorian opinions about smell - including its perceived links to disease and morality.

Thankfully, given that there’s a scent machine in the mix, the exhibition doesn’t just focus on unpleasant smells! The paintings also portray the intoxicating aromas of incense, potions and perfumes. The era’s opium-taking epidemic - which would have produced its own pungent aromas - is alluded to with the portrayal of blowsy purple poppies, while the opulence and exoticism of heavy flowers was linked to excess and sensual pleasure - having the time, money and freedom to stop and smell the flowers was a luxury not everybody could afford.

The exhibition’s scent machine contains three distinctly different aromas. Two were inspired by John Everett Millais’ famous painting, The Blind Girl, the third by Simeon Solomon’s A Saint of the Eastern Church. Both paintings might be familiar to art lovers in the region - they have been lent for inclusion in the exhibition by Birmingham Museums Trust.

The Blind Girl features a pastoral scene topped by a double rainbow, with two girls: one, the titular Blind Girl, breathing in the scent of her surroundings, while her younger sister shelters under the safety of her sibling’s woollen shawl, which she holds close to her face. Some Victorians believed that rainbows had a fragrance, associated with the fresh smell after rainfall, and this inspires the first scent in the gallery - green, earthy and faintly floral. The second aroma represents the comforting smell of the blind girl’s shawl. This is a gently musky scent, creating a surprisingly different impression of the painting. 

The Blind Girl is a sensory scene in full view, with all the faculties represented in the painting - from the sound of birds and livestock, to the feeling of damp grass and mud beneath her hand, and the smell distributed across the landscape by the rainbow. 

In contrast, Solomon’s work contains layers of hidden meaning behind the first glimpse. A Saint of the Eastern Church depicts a figure holding incense and a bough of myrtle flowers. At the time of painting, the use of incense in Anglican churches had recently been criminalised. Myrtle was said to have diverse symbolic meanings, including shame and God’s love - it was often presented to a bridegroom on his wedding night, as an aphrodisiac and symbol of virility. Solomon himself was homosexual, and the painting’s layered meanings, combining love and illegality, must hint at the way he perceived Victorian ideas of sexuality. The curated scent associated with this painting is sharp and bright, inspired by the myrtle, incense and ecclesiastical setting.

Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites remains at the Barber until the end of January - after which the building will close for its next wave of exciting redevelopments. The exhibition is carefully curated, informative and thought-provoking, offering the opportunity to view - and smell - these wonderful works of art in an imaginative new way.

Feature by Jessica Clixby

Scent And The Art Of The Pre-Raphaelites shows at Birmingham’s Barber Institute of Fine Arts at The University of Birmingham until Sunday 26 January