Sir John Everett Millais - An English Beauty
Sir John Everett Millais - An English Beauty
2807
SIR JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS, BT, PRA
(1829-1896)
An English Beauty
Signed l.r.: Millais
Pencil
Framed
30.5 by 13.5 cm., 12 by 5 ¼ in.
(frame size 30 by 47 cm., 11 ¾ by 18 ½ in.)
Provenance:
Private collection, UK.
This portrait is closely related to the smaller English Beauty, in the Manner of John Leech, now in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. It had been believed that the drawing now in Canada was a portrait of Effie but an inscription on the reverse by Millais’s friend W.W. Fenn, who had owned it, says that Millais drew it “in illustration of the type of beauty according to the manner of John Leech”. It is therefore Millais’s interpretation of the pretty young woman that frequently appeared in the cartoons of his close friend John Leech. It is probable that the drawings dates to 1854 since Millais and Leech were especially close that year, spending a summer holiday together in Derbyshire during which Millais drew portraits of Leech and his family.
I am grateful to Malcom Warner for his kind help in cataloguing this lot.
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An English BeautySigned l.r.: MillaisPencilFramed30.5 by 13.5 cm., 12 by 5 ¼ in.(frame size 30 by 47 cm., 11 ¾ by 18 ½ in.)Provenance:Private collection, UK.This portrait is closely related to the smaller English Beauty, in the Manner of John Leech, now in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. It had been believed that the drawing now in Canada was a portrait of Effie but an inscription on the reverse by Millais’s friend W.W. Fenn, who had owned it, says that Millais drew it “in illustration of the type of beauty according to the manner of John Leech”. It is therefore Millais’s interpretation of the pretty young woman that frequently appeared in the cartoons of his close friend John Leech. It is probable that the drawings dates to 1854 since Millais and Leech were especially close that year, spending a summer holiday together in Derbyshire during which Millais drew portraits of Leech and his family.I am grateful to Malcom Warner for his kind help in cataloguing this lot.){kind=link}