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Millais, John Everett (Sir)

Last Name:	Millais
First Name:	John Everett (Sir)
Dates:	1829 (Date of Birth) 1896 (Date of Death)
Biography/History:	An English portrait, genre and landscape painter. He was born at Southampton, June 8, 1829, and was brought up on the Isle of Jersey. In 1837 he received his first instruction in art from Bessel, a drawing teacher at Southampton. In 1838 and 1839 he studied at the School of Henry Sass in Bloomsbury, and the following years at the Royal Academy, where he carried off every prize, receiving a gold medal in 1847. In 1848 he became associated with William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and others in the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His work attracted the attention of Ruskin, for whom he made some architectural designs, and whose portrait he painted. In 1855 he married Ruskin's divorced wife. He was made associate member of the Royal Academy in 1854 and member in 1863. From 1860 to 1870 he was employed as illustrator, and among other books, illustrated Tennyson's poems and Trollope's novels. He received a medal of honor at the Paris Exposition in 1878 and was an honorary member of several foreign academies. He was knighted in 1885, and a few months before his death, which occurred in London, August 13, 1896, he was made president of the Royal Academy. Aside from his landscapes and portraits, his subjects included scriptural, historical and legendary themes, scenes from everyday life and a few national in character, such as "The Rescue" painted in 1855, in honor of the London firemen. From 1847 to 1853 his work was strongly influenced by Pre-Raphaelite theories and aroused much criticism. After 1855 his work developed greater individuality and breadth. His landscapes betray his ardent love of nature; his portraits are painted with sympathetic fidelity. From 1870 on he gave most of his time to portrait painting. From the "New International Encyclopedia Volume 12, pg. 301"
Related Objects:	1658.3 (Painting, The Debutante, 1872)