The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner. This group sought a return to the abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian art. They rejected what they regarded as the mechanistic approach first adopted by artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. The Brotherhood believed the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art, hence the name "Pre-Raphaelite".

John Millais (1829-1896) was born in Southampton, England to John William and Emily Mary Millais. They were a prominent Jersey-based family and most of his early childhood was spent on the island, to which he retained a strong devotion throughout his life. The author Thackeray once asked him "when England conquered Jersey." Millais replied "Never! Jersey conquered England." The family moved to Dinan in Brittany for a few years in his childhood.

Millais's “Christ in the House of His Parents” (pictured) was highly controversial because of its realistic portrayal of a working-class Holy Family labouring in a messy carpentry workshop. All his early work was painted with attention to detail, often concentrating on the beauty of the natural world.

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