William Holman Hunt, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (the guys with the mysterious redhead), painted this bizarre scene in 1850. Yeah, Druids persecuted Christian missionaries in pre-Roman Britain. Sure.
Apparently, Hunt's painting was a companion piece to the super-notorious "Christ in the house of his parents" by fellow Pre-Raphaelite John Everett Millais. However, since it was somewhat more pious, it didn't became as controversial as Millais' painting.
What a pity.
Why didn't some Revival Druid, sword in hand and white beard flowing, enter the premises of the Royal Academy to the tunes of "Also sprach Zarathustra" (or whatever was in vogue back in 1850) and trash the blasphemous abomination of desolation? I mean, it could have been seen as an early example of avantgarde art... He could have abducted the redhead, too, while at it.
Let's face it. Pre-Raphaelite (so called) art is UGLY.
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