Millais

Exhibition of the work of the Pre-Raphaelite John Everett Millais at Tate Britain.

This exhibition was extremely busy as it just has one more weekend to run. I must admit to finding it all a bit sweet and sugary particularly the room entitled Fancies which included pictures of children often in historic costume, the highlight of which was “Bubbles” which was used for the famous Pears Soap advert. It quite turned my stomach!

However it is easy to forget how ground breaking some of his early work was. For example “Christ in the house of his parents” is to us a rather over familiar sentimental image however when it was first exhibited was considered offensive. In the early work there is almost a super real quality. One of the picture write ups put it perfectly “mastery of realism in the service of emotional intensity”.

It was the portraits I liked best particularly a small one of Emily Patmore and a ¾ length of Louise Jopling. There was also a wonderful Disraeli which had had its expression softened following his death. It does make you wonder what it was like before as it is still rather forbidding!

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