Despite their challenge to the conventions of the Royal Academy of Arts, the Pre-Raphaelites continued the tradition of portraiture. But instead of wealthy and powerful figures, the Brotherhood depicted family members, lovers, close friends and the women who modelled for many of their paintings. Aiming for the most truthful portrayal of subject matter, the artists’ approach to portraiture is based on close, almost scientific observation of the sitter, and the resulting images often served as studies for paintings.

In contrast, most of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s models, although recognisable as individuals, have the exaggerated features of his ideal woman, or ‘stunner’. Alexa Wilding, for example, posed for Rossetti’s Dante’s dream at the time of the death of Beatrice while The beloved (The bride) brings together several of his favourite models.

Apart from their mostly realist approach to portraiture the Pre-Raphaelites are also romantic painters, who use accurate renderings of the sitters’ qualities to reveal their characters, personalities and emotions. Their portraits explore ideas of beauty, the domestic and the exotic, as seen in paintings by Rossetti, John Everett Millais and John William Waterhouse.