William Holman Hunt[2] was a British painter, who co-founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848), along with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood advocated a return to spirituality and sincerity of the arts, despising academic painting, which they considered a mere repetition of clichés.

He worked en plein air at the location depicted between August and December 1852, despite cold and rainy weather.

The scenic location painted rests on the cliffs at Fairlight Glen, beside Covehust Bay near Hastings, called the Lovers' Seat.

On 30 July 2019, after the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson visited Wales, cartoonist Steve Bell parodied the painting in The Guardian newspaper.