Millais
Nickname/Alias: “The Child”
Achievements: Co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (artists).
Born: 8th June 8, 1829; Southampton, Hampshire, England
Died: 13th August 13, 1896; London, England (Aged 67)
Field & Discipline: Art; Painter
Language: English
Father: John William Millais
Mother: Emily Mary Evamy
Siblings: Henry Hodgkinson (half-brother); William Henry (half-brother); Emily
Spouse: Euphemia “Effie” Chalmers Gray (former wife of John Ruskin)
Children: Four boys and four girls: including Everett; George; Effie; John Guille; Alice; Sophie.
Education: At home until 1738; Henry Sass's Art Academy; Royal Academy Schools
Major Work:
“The Blind Girl” (1854-56)
Life & Times:
Millais won a silver medal awarded by the Society of Arts for his drawing “The Battle of Bannockburn” when aged only nine and, on 17th July 1840, at the age of eleven, he entered the prestigious Royal Academy School as its youngest-ever student, known there as “the Child.” He embarked on six years of study and produced his oil painting, “Cupid Crowned with Flowers” in 1841. Three years later, in 1844, he met the seventeen-year-old [encouraged by] Hunt* who encouraged him to submit his work to the Royal Academy. Millais' first major painting, “Pizarro Seizing the Inca of Peru,” painted when he was still only sixteen, was shown at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1846.
In 1847, he became a member of a drawing group called the Cyclographic Club, along with Hunt and [a pal of] Dante Gabriel Rossetti*. The following year Millais won a gold medal for his painting “The Tribe of Benjamin Seizing the Daughters of Shiloh.” During 1848, while working on his “Cymon and Iphigenia,” based on John Dryden's translation of Boccaccio, he and Hunt formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, together with Rossetti, William Michael, Frederic George Stephens, Thomas Woolner and James Collison and [a pal of] Burne-Jones*
The Brotherhood, founded in opposition to contemporary academic painting, aimed to return to the style of the 15th-century Italian masters and to work directly from nature. This aspiration was derived from theories expounded in [influenced by] Ruskin's* “Modern Painters.” His first exhibit of Pre-Raphaelite work, the first to bear the secret “PRB” acronym, was “Isabella” in 1849. “Christ in the House of his Parents,” in which the holy family were depicted as ordinary people, was exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1850. This painting drew great attention to Millais and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, as it caused a storm, because the audience found it offensive and blasphemous. The painting was so controversial that [shocked] Queen Victoria* had it removed from the exhibition for a private viewing and [shocked] Dickens*, who later became an ardent admirer of Millais, was the painting's most vociferous critic, finding it “mean, revolting and repulsive.”
In 1851, the critics savaged “The Woodman's Daughter,” “Mariana” and “The Return of the Dove to the Ark,” although the latter was praised by the French author [praised by] Gautier*. John Ruskin, already a hero of the Brotherhood, provided Millais with powerful support against the critical attacks, through two letters published in “The Times.” Ruskin and his wife Effie frequently visited him at his studio and they became good friends.
Millais spent the summer of 1851 near London painting landscapes with Hunt and produced “The Bridesmaid.” The next year, Elizabeth Siddal, later Rossetti's wife, sat for him as “Ophelia” and he painted “A Huguenot,” which was his first painting to be published as an engraving. In 1853, Millais became friendly with the novelist [a pal of] Thackeray*, while Effie Ruskin sat for “The Order of Release” which, when exhibited in 1855, was praised by the French artist [admired by] Delacroix*.
As the friendship between Millais and the Ruskin’s developed, John Ruskin invited him to spend a working holiday with them in Glenfinlas, in Scotland, during which he began a portrait of Ruskin. It was during this holiday that Millais became attached to Effie and painted a sensitive oil study of her. Millais left Glenfinlas on 28th October 1853, returning to London, where he learned of his election as the youngest-ever Associate of the Royal Academy. The following year, Effie took action to annul her marriage to Ruskin and rumours were spread of Millais’ involvement which led to him being banned from the Royal Academy. Meanwhile, he went to Winchelsea in Sussex to paint the background for “The Blind Girl” and in 1854, received a commission to provide illustrations for “Moxon’s Tennyson,” an elegant edition of [illustrated work of] Tennyson's* poems published by London bookseller Edward Moxon.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood had published four issues of a periodical “The Germ,” to which Millais contributed engravings and he supplied realistic scenes of Victorian life for the novels of [illustrated work of] Trollope*, who became a close friend. Effie then granted him a brief visit to her Scottish home and it was agreed that they would marry that summer. Millais spent the evening of 9th June celebrating his coming wedding at a party organized by [a pal of] Wilkie Collins*. Millais exhibited a hugely successful painting, “The Rescue,” at the Royal Academy that summer.
On 30th May 1856 his first child, Everett, was born and Millais produced his two masterpieces, “The Blind Girl” and “Autumn Leaves.” The second child George was born the following year. In 1858, the financial strain of keeping a family in London resulted in a move back to Scotland, where he painted “The Vale of Rest.” His principal painting of 1860 was “The Black Brunswicker,” which featured Kate Dickens, Charles Dickens’ daughter. His notable paintings of the early 1860s were “Trust Me” (1862) and “The Eve of St. Agnes” painted in 1863, the year he was elected as a Royal Academician. He also made a speciality of historical subjects featuring children, such as “The Boyhood of Raleigh” (1870), “The Princes in the Tower” (1878) and “The Princess Elizabeth in Prison” (1879), featuring his daughter Sophie.
By the 1870s, portraits of women had also become an increasingly important part of his repertoire and to these he added lucrative formal portrait commissions of such eminent individuals as [did portrait of] Newman*, the Prime Ministers [did portrait of] Gladstone* (who gave him his “Sir”) and [did portrait of] Disraeli*, Tennyson and [did portrait of] Henry Irving*.
In 1878, due to his immense success, the family moved to Kensington, London, where he was visited by the writer, [a pal of] Carlyle*. The sumptuous neo-classical house was designed by Philip Hardwick, the son of the architect of Euston railway station, in London. In 1885, Gladstone conferred a hereditary baronetcy on Millais, the first artist to receive such an honour. A major retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 1886. Although he continued to paint into the 1890s, he was diagnosed with throat cancer in March 1892. Millais succeeded Lord Leighton as President of the Royal Academy in January 1896, despite being terminally ill, but did not hold the position long. He died at home on 13th August 1896.
Extra Connections:
He met [met] Wordsworth* in 1840.
In 1868 he went shooting in Scotland with fellow artist [shot with] Landseer*.
Met the actress Sarah [met] Bernhardt*.
Helped artist [helped] Forbes-Robertson* get commissions.
Carroll*?
Assessment: One of the leading artists of the 19thcentury, Millais was instrumental in bringing a rejuvenation to British art.
Oneliner: Sir John Millais, major Victorian pre-Raphaelite painter
Bibliography:
- Ash, Russell, Sir John Everett Millais, London: Pavilion Books, 1998.