The impact of Italian art on Britain's influential 19th-century Pre-Raphaelite movement is explored in a new exhibition in the coastal town of Ravenna. The event is Italy's first ever on the movement as a whole and aims to provide the Italian public with an overview of their work. Founded in the second half of the 1800s by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelites sought to break with artistic convention of the day.

They called for a revival of spontaneity and passion for nature, which they believed had been lost during the Mannerist revolution sparked by Raphael. The Pre-Raphaelites were particularly fascinated by the brilliant colours, attention to natural detail, extreme simplicity and intensity of expression in Italian medieval art. Italian art, landscapes and history played a critical role in their efforts to encourage British painting in a more personal and emotional direction. During its early years, the movement focused on medieval and pre-Renaissance styles but by the end of the 1850s, Pre-Raphaelite interest had expanded to include 15th-century paintings, particularly the work of Venetian artists.