Sir John Everett Millais 1849. Oil on canvas.

Christ in the House of His Parents Exhibited with these words from the old testament: And one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends Sir John Everett Millais 1849. Oil on canvas.

THE ORIGINAL SKETCH HAS ONLY FOUR FIGURES, AND DOES NOT INCLUDE JOHN THE BAPTIST OR THE LADDER OR THE DOVE IN THE BACKGROUND Original drawing- 1850. Pencil on paper.

First, a little bit of background on. . .JOHN MILLAIS • born in 1829 • Youngest ever pupil at the royal academy school in art • It was here that he met William holman Hunt and Dante • Gabriel Rossetti, and thus the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood • Was born • was the most naturally gifted of the founders of the P.R.B. • His art was minutely detailed and painting was a slow and laborious process • Another famous painting of his is of Ophelia • After he got married, he said it was no longer economically possible for him • To spend so much time on a single painting, and so changed to a broader, • Looser, more spontaneous style of painting. • This change has been seen by many critics as a sell-out • Went on to become one of the most successful portrait painters of Victorian • Britain • was a great craftsman, not an intellectual. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, and • Shooting • Much of the Criticism since his death was motivated by disapproval of his • Material success • - regarded as one of the great nineteenth century artists

Ophelia

Christ in his parents house

-picture of Christ after he has wounded himself • Trying to remove a nail from a board (foreshadowing) • -Many reminders of the Crucification: pincers, nail, • Carpenter tools and ladder • -John bringing a bowl of water is a reminder of both • Baptism and of the vinegar and gall offered to Him • As he was dying on the cross • Bird perched on the ladder symbolizes the Holy • Ghost • -The sheep outside represent • Human beings • -the workbench represents • The communion table • -Exemplifies the early • Pre-Raphaelite use type of • Typology as a basis for • Symbolic realism About the painting

Criticism of the painting • Millais was criticized for portraying the Holy Family as ordinary people, that it is disrespectful and blasphemous • Charles Dickens called the Christ in the picture “A Hideous wry-necked, blubbering, red-haired boy in a night-gown” • He also commented that the painting made the rest of the holy family look like alcoholics and Slum-dwellers

Positive response John Ruskin- praised their devotion to nature and rejection of conventional methods of composition, supported them financially and in his writings

A little soap opera like drama. . . - Millais met Ruskins wife, Effie, and they became friends. Soon after that she modeled for his painting the order of release. As he painted her they fell in love. She filed for an annulment from her marriage with ruskin, and then went on to marry millais

Sources The Victorian web- www.victorianweb.org/painting/millais/paintings/house.html The Victorian Art in Britain website http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/biog/millais.htm The Tate Institute http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=9523 wikipedia

Sir John Everett Millais 1849. Oil on canvas.