Much as he owed to him in the way of instruction and sympathetic encouragement, Rossetti did not remain long in Brown's studio, at all events as a regular attendant, but left him after a few months to share a studio with Mr. Holman Hunt. The beginning of this intimacy was curious and typical. On the opening day of the Academy Exhibition (May, 1848) "Rossetti," says Mr. Hunt, "came up boisterously and in loud tongue made me feel very confused by declaring that mine was the best picture of the year. The fact that it was from Keats (the picture was _The Eve of St. Agnes_) made him extra-enthusiastic, for I think no painter had ever before painted from this wonderful poet, who then, it may scarcely be credited, was little known." Rossetti begged to be allowed to visit Hunt, for at the Academy schools they had barely been acquainted, and, as an upshot of the acquaintance, agreed to work for a time with him, sharing for this purpose a studio which the latter had just taken in Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square. Here (as well as later in a studio which he took for himself at 83, Newman Street) Brown, whose friendship continued to the end of Rossetti's life, visited him from time to time, and gave him the benefit of his advice; and here, amid what Mr. Hunt has described as the most dismal and dingy surroundings, Rossetti began to paint his first real picture. The year 1848 marks his transition artistically from boyhood to adolescence, an adolescence in which depth of feeling and height of aspiration transcended the power of accomplishment, and no artificial mannerisms obscured the seriousness of purpose that characterized, not him alone, but the whole of the small band of workers with which he presently became associated. The formation of this band, and the painting of Rossetti's first picture, bring us to the story of the famous Pre-Raphaelite movement, and will more properly serve to begin a new, than to end a preliminary chapter. CHAPTER II THE "PRE-RAPHAELITE BROTHERHOOD" In relating afresh the history of the "Pre-Raphaelite" movement, one has many precedents to choose from. According to the point of view selected one may see in it the conscious expression of a great artistic revival, deliberately planned by a body of zealots, and based upon a structure of lofty principles; or one may go to the opposite extreme and regard it merely as an exuberant freak, an irresponsible outburst on the part of a few impulsive youths linked together for one brief moment by a mutual combination of enthusiasm and high spirits. For both of these points of view ample authority might be quoted, and the truth as usual lies somewhere safe between them.