Sir John Everett Millais

(8 June 1829 13 August 1896)

was an English painter, illustrator and one of
the founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
A child prodigy, at the age of eleven Millais became the youngest student to enter
the Royal Academy Schools. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded at his
parents' house in London. Millais became the most famous exponent of the style,
his painting Christ in the House of His Parents (1850) generating considerable
controversy. By the late 1850s Millais was moving away from the Pre-Raphaelite
style. His later works were enormously successful, making Millais one of the
wealthiest artists of his day. However, they have typically been viewed by 20thcentury critics as failures. This view has changed in recent decades, as his later
works have come to be seen in the context of wider changes in the art world.
Millais' personal life has also played a significant role in his reputation. His wife
Effie was formerly married to the critic John Ruskin, who had supported Millais'
early work. The annulment of the marriage and her marriage to Millais have
sometimes been linked to his change of style.

Pre-Raphaelite works
This style was promoted by the critic John Ruskin, who had defended the PreRaphaelites against their critics. Millais' friendship with Ruskin introduced him to
Ruskin's wife Effie. Soon after they met she modelled for his painting The Order
of Release. As Millais painted Effie they fell in love. In 1856 Effie and John
Millais married. He and Effie eventually had eight children including John Guille
Millais, a notable naturalist and wildlife artist.