Raphael may be more than ever a name that sets collectors and the art market aquiver, but to a group of British painters who worked a century ago, his work and life span (1483-1520) marked the point where art went wrong. They longed for the "faithfulness" to nature of the Italians who preceded him, and joined together in a Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
This bit of bravado did not seriously damage Raphael's reputation, and the Pre-Raphaelites themselves grew to seem the epitome of Victorianism, sweet as treacle and finicky as a lace antimacassar. Too pretty, too...
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