Pre-Raphaelite

[ pree-raf-ee-uh-lahyt, -rey-fee- ]

noun

1. any of a group of English artists Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood formed in 1848, and including Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who aimed to revive the style and spirit of the Italian artists before the time of Raphael.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Pre-Raphaelite

/ ˌpriːˈræfəlaɪt /

noun

1. a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an association of British painters and writers including Rossetti, Holman Hunt, and Millais, founded in 1848 to combat the shallow conventionalism of academic painting and revive the fidelity to nature and the vivid realistic colour that they considered typical of Italian painting before Raphael

adjective

1. of, in the manner of, or relating to Pre-Raphaelite painting and painters

Derived Forms

• ˌPre-ˈRaphaelˌitism, noun

Other Words From

• Pre-Rapha·el·itism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pre-Raphaelite¹

First recorded in 1840–50; pre- + Raphael + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

She seduces some and terrifies others, seemingly wielding her cascading Pre-Raphaelite hair and often foul mouth as a weapon.

From The Daily Beast

The frieze round the top of the same room clashes hopelessly with the calm pre-Raphaelite figures beneath it.

From Project Gutenberg

After studying in France, he went to England, where he was strongly influenced by the pre-Raphaelite movement.

From Project Gutenberg

The pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, as such, a thing of the past, and seemingly leaving few imitators.

From Project Gutenberg

Keats in this piece anticipates in a remarkable degree the feeling and method of the modern pre-Raphaelite schools.

From Project Gutenberg

His long, black hair, such as one sees in the saints and evangelists of the pre-Raphaelite artists, hung over his ears.

From Project Gutenberg