Millais's picture was a milestone both in the history of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and in the history of art. When it was put on show at the Royal Academy in 1851 it was reviled by critics, most powerfully by Charles Dickens.
J. P. Herbert's idealised view of the same subject was shown at the Academy in 1849.
A couple of years later in 1853-4, Holman Hunt also employed the techniques of accurate mimesis and attention to detail that has so offended the audience of the Millais picture. Every detail in the picture bore upon the narrative of the fallen woman, in such a way that the picture could be read almost like a verbal text.
Hunt's The Light of the World was shown at the same exhibition and was, in a sense a companion piece to The Awakening Conscience
The subject of the so-called 'fallen woman' or sexualised woman had been previously explored by other artists.
But no group treated the theme so extensively as the Pre-Raphaelites, for whom, what Rossetti called 'the strong minded subject' became a central pre-occupation.
As the decade progressed, this theme found its way into many works of art, and was fed by contemporary critical and social debate on the issue of prostitution.
Rossetti attempted something similar in his picture Found, but he did not feel the realist mode a very congenial one. The painting went into several versions and was never finished. It is, however, much more that a moral tale about the evils of commercial sex. Rossetti, both here and later in life, was examining some of the problematic issues concerning the nature of human sexuality and the place it had in his contemporary society.
August Egg's Past and Present was painted in the manner of a religious triptych with a strong moral meaning. It never won favour with the public.
Rossetti's friend William Bell Scott wrote a poem, 'Rosabell', about a girl who came from the countryside and fell into prostitution. Rossetti planned to illustrate it, but never completed the task.
Rossetti was much easier with dealing with this subject in historical, mythical, or biblical terms. The large drawing of Mary Magdalen is a fine example of his celebration of female sensuality and female desire.
