Bell's Miniature Series of Painters
BY A. L. BALDRY
LONDON
GEORGE BELL & SONS
1908
First Published, December, 1902.
Reprinted, December, 1907.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Life of the Artist
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Later Developments
Last Years
The Chief Works of Millais in Public Galleries, etc.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A Yeoman of the Guard ... Frontispiece
Christ in the House of His Parents
SIR JOHN MILLAIS
Although John Everett Millais was born,on June 8, 1829, at Portland Place, Southampton,his father was an inhabitant of Jersey,and a member of a family which had been settledin that island from a date anterior to the Normanconquest. The first five years of the child's lifewere spent in Jersey, but in 1835 he was taken byhis parents to Dinan, in Brittany, where he began,by his sketches of the scenery of the place andthe types of the people, to give the firstconvincing proofs of the remarkable artistic capacitythat was in him. These early efforts were sosurprising, and attracted so much attentionoutside his family circle, that when he was not morethan nine years old he was brought to Londonfor an expert opinion on his chances in theprofession for which he seemed predestined. ThePresident of the Royal Academy, Sir MartinArcher Shee, was consulted, and his encouragingdeclaration, that "Nature had provided for theboy's success," decided the future of the youngartist, who was at once allowed to begin seriousstudy.
In 1838 he entered the drawing-school inBloomsbury which was carried on by HenrySass, and regarded as the best available placefor the training of budding genius. In thesame year he took the silver medal of the Societyof Arts, for a drawing from the antique, andcaused quite a sensation when he appeared, atthe distribution of the prizes, to receive his awardfrom the Duke of Sussex, who was presiding.The sur