The most obvious characteristics of the early Pre-Raphaelite style are minute naturalistic detail and bright colour with little shadow. This laborious attention to detail was also inspired by Ruskin, who stated that a picture was incomplete unless it contained "the inexhaustible perfection of nature's details."

The brightness of the palette was achieved by painting on a wet white ground, a technique partly derived from fresco painting. Interest in early Italian art also led to an interest in fresco painting.