Editing John Everett Millais (section)

==Pre-Raphaelite works==
Millais's ''[[Christ in the House of His Parents]]'' (1849–50) was highly controversial because of its realistic portrayal of a working class [[Holy Family]] labouring in a messy carpentry workshop. Later works were also controversial, though less so. Millais achieved popular success with ''[[A Huguenot]]'' (1851–52), which depicts a young couple about to be separated because of religious conflicts. He repeated this theme in many later works. All these early works were painted with great attention to detail, often concentrating on the beauty and complexity of the natural world. 

In paintings such as ''[[Ophelia (painting)|Ophelia]]'' (1851–52) Millais created dense and elaborate pictorial surfaces based on the integration of naturalistic elements. This approach has been described as a kind of "pictorial eco-system". ''Mariana'' is a painting that Millais painted in 1850–51 based on the play'' [[Measure for Measure]]''  by [[William Shakespeare]] and the poem of the same name by [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], from 1830. In the play, the young Mariana was to be married, but was rejected by her betrothed when her dowry was lost in a shipwreck.

This style was promoted by the critic [[John Ruskin]], who had defended the Pre-Raphaelites against their critics. Millais's friendship with Ruskin introduced him to Ruskin's wife [[Effie Gray|Effie]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rose|first=Phyllis|title=Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages|publisher=[A. Knopf]|year=1984|isbn=0-394-52432-2|pages=76–85|language=English}}</ref> 

Soon after they met, she modelled for his painting ''[[The Order of Release]]''. As Millais painted Effie, they fell in love. Despite having been married to Ruskin for several years, Effie was still a virgin. Her parents realised something was wrong and she filed for an [[annulment]].
<gallery widths="250" heights="220" mode="nolines" class="center">
File:John Everett Millais - Mariana - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Mariana (Millais)|Mariana]]'', 1851
File:Millais Order of Release.jpg|''[[The Order of Release]]'' (1852–53) Tate Britain, London
File:John Everett Millais - Ophelia - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Ophelia (painting)|Ophelia]]'' (1851–52) Tate Britain, London
File:Millais - Die Rückkehr der Taube zur Arche Noah.jpg|''[[The Return of the Dove to the Ark]]'' (1851)<br /> Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 
</gallery>

===Family===
[[File:Photo assemblage of J. E. Millais' family, circa 1870.jpg|thumb|228x228px|Photo assemblage of Millais's family {{Circa|1870}}. Names in full size image.]]
In 1855, after her marriage to Ruskin was annulled, Effie and John Millais married. He and Effie eventually had eight children: Everett, born in 1856; George, born in 1857; Effie, born in 1858; Mary, born in 1860; Alice, born in 1862; Geoffroy, born in 1863; John in 1865; and Sophie in 1868. Their youngest son, [[John Guille Millais]], became a naturalist, wildlife artist, and Millais's posthumous biographer. Their daughter Alice (1862–1936), later Alice Stuart-Worsley after she married [[Charles Stuart-Worsley]], was a close friend and muse of the composer [[Edward Elgar]], and is thought to have been an inspiration for themes in his [[Violin Concerto (Elgar)|Violin Concerto]].<ref>Kennedy, Michael (1984). Liner notes to EMI CD CD-EMX-2058</ref>

Effie's younger sister [[Sophie Gray]] sat for several pictures by Millais, prompting some speculation about the nature of their apparently fond relationship.<ref>[[Suzanne Fagence Cooper]] (2010) ''The Model Wife''</ref>

===Later works===
[[File:Millais - Überfahrt nach Nordwest.jpg|thumb|left|''[[The North-West Passage]]'' (1878) Tate Britain, London]][[File:CherryRipe1879 by John Everett Millais.jpg|thumb|180px|''Cherry Ripe'' (1879), Private Collection]]
After his marriage, Millais began to paint in a broader style, which was condemned by Ruskin as "a catastrophe". It has been argued that this change of style resulted from Millais's need to increase his output to support his growing family. Unsympathetic critics such as [[William Morris]] accused him of "selling out" to achieve popularity and wealth. His admirers, in contrast, pointed to the artist's connections with [[James McNeill Whistler|Whistler]] and [[Albert Joseph Moore|Albert Moore]], and influence on [[John Singer Sargent]]. Millais himself argued that as he grew more confident as an artist, he could paint with greater boldness. In his article "Thoughts on our Art of Today" (1888), he recommended [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]] and [[Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn|Rembrandt]] as models for artists to follow. Paintings such as ''The Eve of St. Agnes'' and ''The Somnambulist'' clearly show an ongoing dialogue between the artist and Whistler, whose work Millais strongly supported. Other paintings of the late 1850s and 1860s can be interpreted as anticipating aspects of the [[Aesthetic Movement]]. Many deploy broad blocks of harmoniously arranged colour and are symbolic rather than narratival. From 1862, the Millais family lived at 7 Cromwell Place, Kensington, London.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/ophelia/john-everett-millais |title=''John Everett Millais 1829–1896,'' Tate Gallery, London |publisher=Tate.org.uk |access-date=29 January 2014 |archive-date=6 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806103314/http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/ophelia/john-everett-millais |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Later works, from the 1870s onwards demonstrate Millais's reverence for [[Old Master]]s such as [[Joshua Reynolds]] and Velázquez. Many of these paintings were on an historical theme. Notable among these are ''The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower'' (1878) depicting the [[Princes in the Tower]], ''The Northwest Passage'' (1874) and the ''Boyhood of Raleigh'' (1871). Such paintings indicate Millais's interest in subjects connected to Britain's history and expanding empire. Millais also achieved great popularity with his paintings of children, notably ''[[Bubbles (painting)|Bubbles]]'' (1886) – famous, or perhaps notorious, for being used in the advertising of ''[[Pears soap]]'' – and ''[[Cherry Ripe (painting)|Cherry Ripe]]''. His last project (1896) was to be a painting entitled "The Last Trek". Based on his illustration for his son's book, it depicted a hunter lying dead in the [[veld]]t, his body contemplated by two onlookers.