f - SIR JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS, P.R.A. 1829-1896

Bought from the artist by J. W. Cameron in 1895

Royal Academy, 1893, no. 217;
Royal Scottish Academy, 1895, no. 287;
Royal Academy, Works by British Artists Deceased Since 1850, Winter 1901, no. 58

Times, 29 April 1893, p. 13;
Athenaeum, no. 3418, 29 April 1893, p. 543;
Art Journal, 1893, p. 190;
M. H. Spielman, Millais and his Works, with Special Reference to the Exhibition at the Royal Academy, 1898, p. 178, no. 327;
J. G. Millais, The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, 1899, Vol. II, p. 485;
A. L. Baldry, Sir John Everett Millais: His Life and Influence, 1899, pp. 60, 117

Although Millais’s initial shift away from the rigours of Pre-Raphaelitism had occurred in the mid-1850s, this was only the beginning of a long evolution towards a style of art which had as its goal a particular poignancy of mood in figurative subjects and portraits. The present delightful painting of a young girl, holding a dish upon which rests a tame canary, done towards the end of his life, demonstrates that his search for a painterly means of evoking the innocent charm and sweetness of childhood remained constant.

The sophistication of Millais’s art in the later years of his career owed much to his study of European old masters and British historical schools. Works of his such as the portrait of Charles Liddell, known as The Brown Boy, had carried forward a portrait tradition established by Titian, while the diploma piece that Millais presented to the Royal Academy – Souvenir of Velasquez – celebrated the painterly skills and dependence on tonality rather than variety of colour that had been inherited from the Spanish school. Likewise, Millais’s famous essay on the condition of childhood, Cherry Ripe, was dependent on the example of Joshua Reynolds, from whose portrait of Penelope Boothby the pose and format as well as the mood are adapted. Once a radical among painters, Millais had arrived at a stage in his career where he wanted to produce work that would complement and hang well with portraits and figure subjects from earlier centuries.

Merry was shown at the Royal Academy in 1893, accompanied by a pendant entitled Pensive (private collection), which showed a dark haired girl holding flowers, but with a distracted or concerned expression. The deliberate counterpoint of mood between the two paintings falls in line of succession to earlier pairings of subjects by the artist, notably his Royal Academy exhibits Allegro and Penseroso of 1887.

CSN