The Desolate Woman, the Undefined Painter

I'm still working feverishly on my Chopin paper, but I had to pause foe a moment in order to pay tribute to the term "the desolate woman". I find it to be quite catchy and rather apt. Anthony Hobson uses it to describe the female figures in J. W. Waterhouse's  paintings. 

As the paper develops I find that using Waterhouse as one of my artistic examples is rather problematic. I've only ever heard Waterhouse referred to as a Pre-Raphaelite, but Hobson contends that he is an English Neo-Classicist. I am not entirely swayed and I don't really have the time to hunt down the minute details I would need to make a fully informed decision. 

Even the Waterhouse archive page seems confused on this issue. They state "Waterhouse's works are perhaps the best of the Pre-Raphaelites (although really a Neoclassic)". Umm. 

How can one be the best painter of one style while belonging to another? To overcome this problem I am considering JWW a Pre-Raphaelite working at the end of the period. Whatever class of painter he is, his work is most certainly shaped by the earlier works by folks like Millais and Rossetti who are undeniably part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.