Effie Gray

Date of birth: 1828 — Date of death: 1897

Model. Daughter of the Perth lawyer, George Gray, she married John Ruskin in 1848. Following her divorce from Ruskin on the grounds that the relationship was not consummated, she married John Everett Millais (1829-1896) in 1855. As Ruskin's wife, Effie socialised with a wide intellectual circle including Sir Charles Eastlake, president of the Royal Academy and director of the National Gallery. John Ruskin's friendship with John Everett Millais saw her pose for Millais's The Order of Release, 1746 (1852-3). It was during a group trip to Scotland in 1853 that Effie and Millais fell in love.