Scrolling through pre-Raphaelite paintings, you can see the precursor to Impressionism. What was critical was the invention of photography where the aesthetic of composition was limited or cropped. There was no compulsion to present a whole scene but for the subject. In this one, it certainly looks photo-real. If one were to take a similar shot and run it through a painterly app, you'd get similar graphical presentation.
They were also intense colorists. That too the result of technology as synthetic dyes from coal tars were manufactured for pigmenting media as opposed to the ancient vegetable and mineral sources. The artists (or their apprentices) had to make their own paint. Rossetti was inspired by medieval Illumination.
The subject matter somewhat arcane, much Romantic delusion such as Arthurian legend, I like this portrait a lot. And you can imagine the painter had a photograph to refer to in studio, obviating the need for long outdoor sittings. Marvelous.
John Everett Millais; Waiting, 1854.
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