Of all the P. R. B., Hunt revelled most in using brilliant modern pigments newly available in the 1840s (for example the pinks and mauves in 'Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus').

This striking new palette reflects the primary dazzle of the medieval world, and also serves to distinguish the work of the Brotherhood from the generally more drab, conventional tonal range of contemporary painting.

In the details of faces and costumes, Hunt employed considerable technical innovation. He and Millais had previously experimented with the 'Wet-white ground', painting on top of an area still wet to give translucence to the upper layer of colour.

Hunt also devised a method of re-creating the effect of localised shadow on brightly coloured drapery by using semitransparent colours within a double layer of varnish: this he called "locking up" fugitive pigments.