Meanings
- uncountableartA group of English painters, poets, and critics formed in 1848, led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and William Holman Hunt, who rejected the academic art of the Royal Academy to create more sincere, detailed, and morally serious art; they looked for inspiration to Italian art before Raphael, valuing its naturalism, vibrant colors, and symbolism.
Synonyms: PRB
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA group of English painters, poets, and critics formed in 1848, led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and William Holman Hunt, who rejected the academic art of the Royal Academy to create more sincere, detailed, and morally serious art; they looked for inspiration to Italian art before Raphael, valuing its naturalism, vibrant colors, and symbolism.
Origin
From pre- + Raphael + -ite and brotherhood. Later known simply as Pre-Raphaelites.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pre-Raphaelite%20Brotherhood
“Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pre-Raphaelite%20Brotherhood. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pre-Raphaelite%20Brotherhood.
Source: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.