The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, formed in 1848, sought to revitalize British art by rejecting the academic conventions that had dominated since the time of Raphael. They believed that the influential Royal Academy promoted a style of painting that was overly idealized, muddy in color, and disconnected from the 'truth to nature.' To the Pre-Raphaelites, the work of the High Renaissance had introduced a mechanical quality to art that prioritized grandiosity over meticulous observation. In response, they turned their gaze back to the early Italian and Flemish painters, whose work they admired for its luminous colors and sharp focus. A hallmark of the Pre-Raphaelite style was its almost photographic attention to detail; they would often spend weeks painting a single patch of riverbank flora directly from life to ensure botanical accuracy. This commitment to realism was often wedded to highly symbolic or literary subjects, particularly from the works of Shakespeare, Keats, and Dante. While contemporary critics often found their work garish and shockingly unrefined, the Brotherhood's insistence on emotional sincerity and visual precision provided a necessary jolt to the Victorian art world, paving the way for later movements that would further challenge the boundaries of representational art.