The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets and critics, founded in 1848. The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be the mechanistic approach adopted by the Mannerist artists who followed the concept of painting prevalent before the High Renaissance, hence the name 'Pre-Raphaelite'.

Their immediate complaint concerned the continuing influence of the founder of the Royal Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, whom they called 'Sir Sloshua' because of his formulaic and clichéd approach to painting.

The Pre-Raphaelites are considered the first avant-garde movement in art, though they have also been denied that status, because they continued to accept the doctrine of the imitation of nature, as central to the purpose of art.

The Pre-Raphaelites undoubtedly defined themselves as a reform movement, as they created a distinct name for their form of art, and published a periodical, " The Germ", to promote their ideas. Their debates were recorded in the "Pre-Raphaelite Journal".

The central doctrine of the movement was that artists should seek to represent the natural world without preconceptions about what is artistically proper according to traditions and techniques inherited from old masters.

Their early work was influenced by late Medieval art. However, some of the brotherhood soon moved towards placing greater emphasis on the detailed observation of nature, while others continued to be influenced by Medieval art.