Sir John Everett Millais 1829–1896 - was an English painter, founder, along with William Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, of the famous "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood". He largely defined a new direction in painting, different from the traditional classicism and academism, and began to depict the ordinary life of ordinary people, as he saw it in reality. He painted and nature under natural light, on the plein air, trying to convey its true, not fictional beauty. This style and innovation brought him honor and fame, Millais was awarded all the possible honors that are possible for the artist. However, his old age, despite the recognition, can hardly be called happy. Why this happened, and about the wonderful paintings of Millais we will talk about in this article.
The sweetest eyes ever seen
The Pre-Raphaelites suggested that the artists who joined their fraternity should abandon post-Raphaelite artwork, as it is only an endless imitation of Raphael, and draw from real life in the artwork of genre scenes and nature in the painting of landscapes, trying to portray them as realistically as possible. And Millais wrote nature with scientific thoroughness and accuracy, and always in plein air. Wet in the rain, cold in the fall, suffered from pesky insects, but displayed the water surface, lilies and reeds with photographic accuracy. Even botany teachers took their students to the museum where Millais's painting "Ophelia" hung so that they could familiarize themselves with the river flora.
Ophelia
He was often posed by acquaintances and friends, and Millais painted them, trying to convey as accurately as possible all the features of appearance, as if he was dealing with a camera, not with brushes and paints. Modern hyperrealism in some ways comes from the approach that Millais practiced.
Millais achieved everything too early and later had to reap the rewards of his fame. He entered the Royal Academy of Painting at the age of 11, and classmates immediately gave him the nickname "The Kid". However, the undoubted talent was noticed even earlier, and when John was 9 years old, his parents moved from southern Southampton to cold and damp London, just to give the young talent to develop. Millais entered the best art school, with a move was awarded a silver medal and stunned all members of the jury when they saw that to get it came out not formed a young man, and the boy, who is supposed to still play in toys, but not to write paintings at a professional level. And John wrote paintings and studied at the Academy, not distracted by children's games, eventually by 17 years it finished, and at the same time realized that traditional art - it is very boring.
The Vale of Tranquility
That's why he decided with his friends Hunt and Rossetti to found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. And they had a truly grandiose idea, quite in the spirit of youthful maximalism - to change the entire English painting. Therefore, and should be based on ancient Greek, Roman and medieval art. Early Renaissance and forget as a terrible dream everything that has been happening in painting for the last 300 years.
At first, their manner of painting - bright colors and the most realistic images considered the costs of youth. Well rebel, experiment, and then still will write like everyone else. But artists do not refuse their own, and their artwork is becoming more and more perfect each time. The critics were wary. When Millais presented at an exhibition at the Academy of Painting painting painting "Christ in the parental home," it was overwhelmed by a barrage of criticism.
Christ in the parental home
Why is the Holy Family painted so unassumingly like ordinary laborers, with shavings lying on the floor? The artist, art critic, literary scholar and liberal John Ruskin volunteered to defend the painting. In his time he defended the artist Turner, and the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites - realistic representation of nature, meticulous attention to detail, the most realistic paintings were very close to him.
Ruskin offered John Millais to be promoted to the academy of painting, and in 24 years - earlier did not allow the rules, Millais received this high rank. In the same year and put a piggyback to his protégé - met with his beautiful wife, who posed for the painting The Order of Emancipation.
Release order
And here Ruskin himself was largely to blame. He, his wife Effie Ruskin and John Millais went to Scotland, to admire the local views of nature, where the three of them lived in a rented house. Millais decided to write another landscape, good nature there was very beautiful, and Ruskin, rashly decided that work on the landscape Millais will be long, went on his business Edinburgh, leaving the young artist with his wife in the same house.
Burnham Valley
Of course, feelings flared up between them - and with good reason. Ruskin in five years of marriage never once bothered to fulfill his conjugal duty. As a result, Effie Ruskin filed a petition for divorce, where she proved that she was a virgin. Had to pass not the most pleasant procedure of examination, partly reminiscent of the medieval, which was subjected to the artist Artemisia Gentileschi, but it was worth it - the petition for divorce was granted. A year later Effie married John Millais.
Mariana
Ruskin could not forget such, in his opinion, betrayal and from then on desperately criticized any paintings of Millais. But knowledgeable people knew why there is such criticism and did not give it serious attention.
And Millais enjoyed life - a huge house, a loving wife, eight children, widespread recognition, expensive orders. In 1886, Millais even wrote the first advertising picture - his painting "Soap Bubbles", where Millais painted his grandson, were replicated on advertising posters praising the new soap.
Soap bubbles
But wealth and fame in no way reduced the capacity and diligence of the artist. Orders, from which you can not refuse, on the part of the powerful world was more and more and they had to work on them. But here Millais went to the trick - he created some templates, repeating the pose, facial expression and style of clothing and wrote on them all custom portraits.
Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield.
As a result, many of his later artworks were in the same manner, reminiscent of mass production, which was a bit of a strain on gallerists who later held exhibitions of Millais's paintings. After the amazing early paintings were followed by the same and boring late and visitors had the feeling that the artist simply wrote out, stopped trying and went to a frank hackwork.
Six months before his death Millais headed the Royal Academy of Arts, where he once studied and himself at the age of eleven. However, the health of the artist was very bad and it is unlikely that the new appointment he was somehow particularly pleased. He died at the age of 57, having achieved everything that only could ignorant artist at that time.
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