Effie Gray (Lady Millais)
1 of 3 portraits of Effie Gray (Lady Millais)
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Effie Gray (Lady Millais)
by Thomas Richmond
oil on board, arched top, 1851
31 7/8 in. x 20 7/8 in. (810 mm x 530 mm)
Given by Dr D.M. McDonald, 1977
Primary Collection
NPG 5160
Sitterback to top
- Euphemia ('Effie') Chalmers (née Gray), Lady Millais (1828-1897), Former wife of John Ruskin, and later wife of Sir John Everett Millais. Sitter in 3 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Thomas Richmond (1802-1874), Artist. Artist or producer associated with 3 portraits.
This portraitback to top
The portrait was commissioned by Ruskin's father and the artist was given £20 in wine for it. After it had been shown at the Academy in 1851, Effie wrote to her mother: '...it is the most lovely piece of oil painting but much prettier than me. I look like a graceful Doll but John and his father are delighted with it'. She is wearing a gold and enamel bracelet brought for her by Ruskin in Geneva when they were on their way to Venice in 1849.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Marsh, Jan, Character Sketches: The Pre-Raphaelites, 1998
- Marsh, Jan, The Pre-Raphaelite Circle, 2013, p. 67 Read entry
'It is the most lovely piece of oil painting, but much prettier than me,' Effie wrote when the portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy, 'I look like a graceful doll, but John and his father are delighted with it.' When Effie left his son, Mr Ruskin senior, who had paid for the work in wine, deleted her name from the back of the pciture and returned it to the artist.
- Marsh, Jan, Insights: The Pre-Raphaelite Circle, 2005, p. 64
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 429
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Pre-Raphaelite Sisters (17 October 2019 - 26 January 2020)
Events of 1851back to top
Current affairs
A population census is taken of all the people living in Britain, recording details about every householder on the night of March 30. This census greatly extends the fields of the 1841 census, being the first to record full details of individuals' birth locations, exact age, marital status, and details of disability, thus making it a valuable tool for demographers and genealogists. The census was made open for public inspection in 1912.Art and science
The Great Exhibition is held in London,at the Crystal Palace, especially designed by Sir Joseph Paxton. The international exhibition was designed to showcase the best in science, art and industry. it attracted millions of visitors.Lizzie Siddal poses for John Millais's painting Ophelia.
Hermann von Helmotz invents the ophthalmoscope, making it possible for doctors to examine within a patient's eye.
International
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, President of the French Republic, stages a coup d'état, successfully dissolving the French National Assembly without having the constitutional right to do so. Now the sole ruler of France, he re-establishes universal suffrage, previously abolished by the Assembly and becomes 'Napoléon III, Emperor of the French'.Comments back to top
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