Hunt, Millais and Rossetti shared the view that Raphael's late style was 'mannered' (exaggerated and over-dramatic). In (early) 1848, Millais advanced these opinions to fellow students of the Royal Academy, who replied "Then you are Pre-Raphaelite" (and they accepted the name).

It was Rossetti's idea to call the group a Brotherhood. They signed pictures with 'P. R. B.' and other insignia and solemnly promised to keep the meaning secret.

The decadence of the Raphael tradition was traced by Hunt, Millais and Rossetti to the late work of Raphael himself - specifically to his 'Transfiguration' in the Vatican - which they condemned "for its grandiose disregard of the simplicity of truth, the pompous posturing of the Apostles and the unspiritual attidudinising of the Saviour".

(According to Hunt, this is why they turned to art Pre-Raphael for the qualities they sought).