Portrait of John Ruskin, 1853-1854.
Oil on canvas, 78.7 x 68 cm.
Private Collection.
His painting Christ in the Home of his Parents depicts an imaginary incident in the life of Jesus, treated in a simple and realistic manner, which provoked religious as well as artistic authorities. Charles Dickens described this Christ as a “hideous, wry-necked, blubbering, red-haired boy”, and The Times called the painting “disgusting”. The rest of his strictly Pre-Raphaelite paintings such as Mariana, A Huguenot, and Ophelia were greeted with less hostility, thanks to Millais’ growing renown and the support of John Ruskin, who espoused the Pre-Raphaelites’ cause in his letters to The Times and in his articles on Pre-Raphaelitism. In 1851, Millais, who had until then refused to read Modern Painters, in which the principles of Pre-Raphaelitism were presented, met Ruskin and his wife Euphemia (Effie). With his brother William, in July 1853, he left for Callander in Scotland for three months, accompanied by the Ruskins. During this trip he fell in love with Effie and painted a portrait of Ruskin standing in front of a landscape, thus illustrating the critic’s attitudes toward Nature and the future. In 1854 Effie obtained the annulment of her marriage to Ruskin, making it possible for her to marry Millais in 1855. The young couple moved into Annat Lodge where Millais painted Autumn Leaves, whose light and colour deeply moved Ruskin. The couple’s first child, Everett, was born the next year. From 1860 to 1869, he devoted all of his creative energy to making more than eighty illustrations for the novels of Anthony Trollope, thus becoming the most prolific illustrator of the 1860s in England. In 1863 Millais was elected a member of the Royal Academy, an institution derided by the Pre-Raphaelites. Having progressively distanced himself from the Pre-Raphaelites, he finally separated himself from them completely to turn toward such great masters as Rembrandt and Velázquez, and to paint the portraits of influential people. Millais always had the support of the public. When he left Pre-Raphaelitism for sentimental, expressive painting, he was followed by an even larger crowd. When he abandoned expressive subjects for portraits, the crowd continued to grow, and he finally moved on to nudes. Fame reached out to him and tirelessly protected him for forty-five years. He also contributed to the creation of the National Portrait Gallery and encouraged Henry Tate to found the eponymous Tate Gallery. Millais never refused honours; he accepted the Légion d’Honneur from the French government in 1868, and in 1885 Queen Victoria raised him to a baronetcy. The apex of his career was his election as President of the Royal Academy in 1896. After suffering from throat cancer for several years, he died in August 1896 and was buried at Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Millais was one of the greatest painters of his time and devoted his virtuosity and power to breathing new energy into English painting.
John Everett Millais,
Christ in the House of his Parents,
(“The Carpenter’s Shop”), 1849-1850.
Oil on canvas, 86.4 x 139.7 cm.
Tate Britain, London.
John Everett Millais,
The Woodsman’s Daughter, 1851.
Oil on canvas, 84 x 65 cm.
Guildhall Art Gallery,
Corporation of London, London.
John Everett Millais,
The Blind Girl, 1856.
Oil on canvas, 80.8 x 53.4 cm.
Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, Birmingham.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
Found, begun in 1869 (unfinished).
Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 88.9 cm.
Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Collection of
Pre-Raphaelite Art, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington.
William Holman Hunt,
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1853.
Pastel and colour chalk, 28.6 x 25.9 cm.
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(London, 1828 - Birchington, 1882)
The son of an Italian poet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti showed a propensity for painting and drawing very early in his life. Thus, he left school early to begin his apprenticeship. He enrolled in Cary’s Art Academy and was admitted to the Royal Academy Antique School in London around 1846. Except for one trip to Belgium, where he was able to admire the paintings of van Eyck and Memling, Rossetti was far from being an experienced traveller and had not been influenced by other types of painting. He was very impressed by certain works by Ford Madox Brown, and worked under the supervision of this artist, whose remarkable technique helped him acquire the rigour and precision that he had not yet attained. Out of great generosity, Brown took charge of Rossetti’s training without receiving any financial compensation, and had him work in genres such as still-life. It is not surprising that with the help of such a master, as well as that of Millais and Hunt, Rossetti quickly mastered his art. Rossetti’s enthusiasm led him to propose the creation of a “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood” along with Hunt and Millais. Though Brown was invited to join them, he refused.
The first of Rossetti’s works as a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was The Childhood of Mary Virgin. This painting, as well as those that followed, received a glacial reception. However, the following year he presented his Ecce Ancilla Domini (The Annunciation) at the exhibition. This is the event that established his reputation. He typically treated subjects related to medieval legend, primitive Italian poetry, and old English ballads. The only notable exception was the painting Found begun around 1852, which was Rossetti’s contribution to the Victorian style that Holman Hunt was particularly fond of. The subject of the painting is a confrontation between a young woman who has given in to the vices of urban life and her former sweetheart, who is appalled to find her in such a state. Rossetti never finished this energetic and moralising painting, which was far removed from his habitual style. In fact, he disapproved of didactic art intended to improve the condition of humanity, and the naturalism that such subjects necessitated. Nevertheless, this painting remains one of his uncontested masterpieces. In 1856, he allied himself with William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones who had the greatest admiration and affection for him.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
Beatrix Meeting Dante at a Wedding Feast,
Denies him her Salutation, 1855.
Watercolour on paper, 34 x 42 cm.
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology,
University of Oxford, Oxford.
Throughout his life, Rossetti was passionate about literature. He began his translation of the thirteenth century Italian Lyrics in 1846, and not long after he published a first version of his remarkable poems, The Blessed Damozel and Sister Helen, which was later revised. In December of 1850 the first issue of The Germ was published. Rossetti held the position of verse and prose poet for this periodical, whose goal was to promote the principles of Pre-Raphaelitism through criticism and examples; each edition was to contain an engraving. The Germ was the collective property of all members of the Brotherhood, but the venture was far from being a financial success and only four issues were published. In 1861 Rossetti actively helped renew taste in stained glass by producing new designs.