Information
This is the earliest known etching by Millais, originally intended for the fifth issue of the Pre-Raphaelite journal 'The Germ' but never used. The scene from a story by Rossetti shows a fifteenth century artist painting the portrait of his dying lover. Three impressions are known to date, now in The Victoria and Albert Museum, Yale Centre for British Art and this Birmingham impression, mounted beside the reversed preparatory drawing. In the transference to the etching plate, the design appears to have moved closer to Rossetti's text, open-eyed terror in the face of the young girl giving away to an expression of forced resignation to her fate.
- Purchased and presented by subscribers, 1906.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Makers
Association |
Artist |
Organisation |
Artist |
John Everett Millais |
- |
Inscriptions
Type |
Position(s) |
Method |
Date(s) |
Notes |
WBS Monogram (William Bell Scott's collector's stamp). |
Monogram |
- |
Stamped |
- |
|
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Etched by Millais for 'the Germ' - 5th Number, never published. Intended I think to illustrate a story by D. G. R. called 'The Intercession of St Agnes'. Given to me by Millais; his only impression. 1850-1. |
Inscription |
frame |
Handwritten |
- |
Inscribed by W. Bell Scott on the back of the former frame of the etching. |
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Exhibitions
Catalogue No. |
Venue |
Date(s) |
The Collection of Drawings and Studies by Sir edward Burne-Jones... |
485ii |
Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery |
1913 - 19113 |
|
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood |
253a |
City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham |
1947-06-07 - 1947-07-27 |
|
Millais, PRB, PRA |
116 |
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
1967-01-14 - 1967-03-05 |
116 |
Royal Academy of Arts, London |
1967-03-15 - 1967-04-30 |
|
Prints in Focus, Part I |
42. |
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham |
1997-10-04 - 1997-11-30 |
|
John Everett Millais: Illustrator and Narrator |
2 |
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham |
2004-10-16 - 2005-01-16 |
|
Millais |
17b |
Tate Britain, London |
2007-09-26 - 2008-01-13 |
|
Literature
Author(s) |
Date(s) |
Publisher |
Pages |
City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Drawings |
A E Whitley |
1939 |
Bemrose & Sons, Ltd, Derby |
p. 265. |
|
John Everett Millais: Illustrator and Narrator |
Paul Goldman |
2004 |
Lund and Humphries, Aldershot |
cat. no. 2 / B25. |
|
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites |
Colin Cruise |
2005 |
Merrell, London and New York |
fig. 33 / p. 99. |
|
Prints in Focus |
Tessa Sidey |
1997 |
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham |
no. 42. |
|
Millais |
Alison Smith, Heather Birchall, Jason Rosenfeld |
2007 |
Tate Publishing, London |
cat. no. 17b / p. 43. |
Provenance
Given by the artist to William Bell Scott; Charles Fairfax Murray. |
Associated people
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