Sir John Everett Millais was born in 1829 in Southampton. A child prodigy in art, he entered the Royal Academy at the unprecedented age of eleven.
A founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (September 1848), one of his first paintings executed after this memorable date was ISABELLA, a marvellous group of portrait studies gathered around a table. Sharp and analytical, unlike many Pre-Raphaelites who lapsed into painting stereotypes, Millais later brilliantly captured Ruskin, Disraeli and Gladstone portraits all in the current exhibition. Male portraiture in itself being a subject little identified with the brotherhood.
Millais lost a bit of his edge after marriage to Effie in 1855. One of his favourite models, she was also Ruskin's wife when Millais first seduced her. The brotherhood was officially dissolved about the same time.
Millais  received a  baronetcy in 1885 and the Presidency of the Royal Academy in 1896. 

R.L.

See our full length exhibition review by Souren Melikian