 Morris became increasingly fascinated with the idyllic Medievalist depictions of rural life which appeared in the paintings of the Pre @-@ Raphaelites , and spent large sums of money purchasing such artworks . Burne @-@ Jones shared this interest , but took it further by becoming an apprentice to one of the foremost Pre @-@ Raphaelite painters , Dante Gabriel Rossetti ; the three soon became close friends . Through Rossetti , Morris came to associate with poet Robert Browning , and the artists Arthur Hughes , Thomas Woolner , and Ford Madox Brown . Tired of architecture , Morris abandoned his apprenticeship , with Rossetti persuading him to take up painting instead , which he chose to do in the Pre @-@ Raphaelite style . Morris aided Rossetti and Burne @-@ Jones in painting the Arthurian murals at Oxford Union , although his contributions were widely deemed inferior and unskilled compared to those of the others . At Rossetti 's recommendation , Morris and Burne @-@ Jones moved in together to the flat at Bloomsbury 's No. 17 Red Lion Square by November 1856 . Morris designed and commissioned furniture for the flat in a Medieval style , much of which he painted with Arthurian scenes in a direct rejection of mainstream artistic tastes . 
