Who was Ford Madox Brown and how did he influence Dante Gabriel Rossetti?

Ford Madox Brown (1821–1893) was an English painter whose work is closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, though he was never an official member of the group. He is well known for his naturalistic approach to painting, his contributions to book illustration and stained glass, and his significant series of murals for the Manchester town hall.1

Brown influenced Dante Gabriel Rossetti primarily by serving as his mentor; Rossetti was briefly an informal pupil of Brown’s in 1848. Through this association, Rossetti acquired Brown’s admiration for the German Nazarenes—a group of artists who sought to revive a pre-Renaissance purity of style and aim. This exposure to the Nazarenes' ideals helped shape the artistic foundation that Rossetti later expanded upon when he helped form the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, shifting the focus toward a romanticized medieval past.12