Millais, John

PAINTER (GREAT BRITAIN)
BORN 8 Jun 1829, Southampton, Hampshire - DIED 13 Aug 1896, London: 2 Palace Gate
BIRTH NAME Millais, John Everett
CAUSE OF DEATH throat cancer
GRAVE LOCATION London: St. Paul's Cathedral

John Millais entered Sass' Academy when he was nine and the schools of the Royal Academy when he was only eleven years old. He first exhibited there when he was sixteen. In 1848 he was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In 1850 Charles Dickens wrote in his Household Words how horrible he considered Millais' "Christ in the House of his Parents" to be. He was defended against his many critics by John Ruskin, whose former wife Effie Gray he married in 1855. Ruskin continued to praise his work until he observed that Millais had begun to paint in a more conventional way.

In 1863 Millais was appointed a member of the Royal Academy. He painted many portraits for the rich and the famous and became immensely famous himself. In the year of his death he became the eight President of the Royal Academy. When he died he was celebrated because of his 'Englishness' as well as criticized for 'selling out'.

Work:
"Ophelia" (with Lizzy Siddal as the model, 1852, The Tate Gallery, London);
"Portrait of John Ruskin" (1854).

Related persons
 • was a friend of Collins, Charles Allston
• painted Collins, Wilkie
• used as a model Dickens, Kate
• painted Dickens, Kate
• painted Dickens, Mary
• was painted by Holl, Frank
• was a friend of Hunt, William Holman
• was a friend of Leech, John
• is grandparent of Millais, John Everett, 3rd Baronet
• visited Ouida
• was a friend of Phillip, John
• was a friend of Prinsep, Valentine
• painted Ruskin, John
• used as a model Siddal, Elizabeth
• painted Trelawny, Edward John

Events
0/1/1852Wilkie Collin's "Mr. Wray's Cash Box" is published. It had a cover illustration by John Millais. [Collins, Wilkie]
30/12/1863William Makepeace Thackeray is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London. The funeral was attended by Charles Dickens, Mark Lemon, Anthony Trollope, Theodore Martin, Robert Bell, John Millais, G.H. Lewes, Robert Browning, George Cruikshank, John Leech and Shirley Brooks. [Dickens, Charles][Leech, John][Lewes, George Henry][Martin, Theodore][Thackeray, William Makepeace][Trollope, Anthony]
1/5/1877Opening of Grosvenor Gallery, London. It was located at 135-137 New Bond Street and it was founded by Sir Coutts Lindsay, who wanted to exhibit paintings that weren't fit for the nearby located Royal Academy. Burne-Jones, Whistler, Watts, Legros, Moore, Hubert von Herkomer, James Tissot, Millais and Holman Hunt were among those who exhibited. Rossetti refused to cooperate because work by members of the Royal Academy was exhibited as well. [Burne-Jones, Edward][Hunt, William Holman][Rossetti, Dante Gabriel][Whistler, James MacNeill]
29/5/1897John Pender's paintings are sold for 75,917 pounds. Among them were works by Turner, Wilkie and Millais. [Turner, Joseph Mallord William]

Images

The tombstone of Sir John Everett Millais at St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
Picture by Androom (26 Mar 1996)
 
Statue of John Millais behind the Tate Britain, London.
Picture by Androom (18 Mar 2006)
 
'Wilkie Collins'.
   (1850, London: National Portrait Gallery)
 

"Autumn Leaves".
   (1856, Manchester: Manchester Art Gallery)
 
"The Blind Girl".
   (1856, Birmingham: City Museum and Art Gallery)
 
"My First Sermon".
   (1863, London: Guildhall Art Gallery)
 

"My Second Sermon".
   (1864, London: Guildhall Art Gallery)
 
'Kate Perugini'.
   (1880, [Mellon Collection])
 
"The Nest".
   (1887, Port Sunlight: Lady Lever Art Gallery)
 

"The Martyr of the Solway".
   (c1871, Liverpool: Walker Art Gallery)
 

Sources
 • Culbertson, Judi & Tom Randall, Permanent Londoners, Robson Books, London, 1991
• Vincent, Benjamin, Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, and Universal Information, Ward, Lock & Co, London, 1906
• Finnel, Peter (ed.) et al, Millais: Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1999
• Whelchel, Harriet (ed.), John Ruskin and the Victorian Eye, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1993
• Wildman, Stephen, John Christian, Edward Burne-Jones 1833-1898, Un maître anglais de l'imaginaire, Réunion des Musées Nationeaux, Paris, 1999
• Paddington | British History Online


Millais, John Everett, 3rd Baronet

Published: 01 Jan 2006
Last update: 12 Aug 2023