Why did the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood choose its name?

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which included the English artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, chose its name to signal a rejection of the artificial and unimaginative historical painting promoted by the Royal Academy.1

By adopting this name, the group expressed their admiration for the artistic principles and practices of Italian art from the 14th and 15th centuries—specifically the period before the High Renaissance and the influence of Raphael. The members sought to revive what they perceived as the direct, uncomplicated, and sincere depiction of nature found in that earlier era, aiming to bring a new moral seriousness to their own work.12