According to the inscription, this work was executed when Millais was only nine and a half years old. It fits in with what we know of Millais' youthful development as an artist. Precociously gifted, Millais entered the schools of the Royal Academy of Arts in July 1840 at the age of eleven, becoming its youngest ever student and winning several awards over the following few years. It was only six years later that Millais exhibited his first large oil painting at the Royal Academy.
- Presented by Miss Frere, 1946.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery