Image credit: Tate

The Emigrant's Last Sight of Home 1858

Richard Redgrave (1804–1888)

Tate

Social realism is defined by choice of subject matter rather than style. Powerful images began to be used by painters in the mid-nineteenth century to affect the viewers' feelings and bring social problems to public attention. Some of the work of Thomas Faed, Richard Redgrave, Frank Holl, Luke Fildes and the early Pre-Raphaelites can be identified with social realism.