"Eupemia Chalmers Gray (Afterwards Lady Millais)" by Sir John Everett Millais Bt PRA (1829-96)

Euphemia Chalmers Gray (Afterwards Lady Millais)

Copy, drawn by the subject herself, of an oil-painting by Sir John Everett Millais Bt PRA (1829-96)

1853

Pencil on paper

25.50 x 20.50cm wide

Source: Millais I, facing p.218 (the original work is now at Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton)

The picture from which this was copied was executed while Millais was staying with the Ruskins in Glenfinlas in Scotland, in order to paint Ruskin's portrait. Effie was then married to Ruskin; but during the lengthy visit, they fell in love. [Commentary continues below. Mouse over the text for links.]

Scanned image by George P. Landow; text by Jacqueline Banerjee.

You may use the image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the source and (2) link your document to this URL or cite it in a print one. [Click on image to enlarge it.]

Effie's marriage to Ruskin was annulled in the following year and the couple married in 1855. These events caused considerable scandal at the time, but their son passes over them tactfully, merely saying in a footnote to his biography of his father:

Miss Gray had been previously married, but that marriage had been annulled in 1854, on grounds sanctioned equally by Church and State. Both good taste and feeling seem to require that no detailed reference should be made to the circumstances attending that annulment. But, on behalf of those who loved their mother well, it may surely be said that during the course of the judicial proceed- ings instituted by her, and throughout the period of the void marriage and the whole of her after years, not one word could be, or ever was, uttered impugning the correctness and purity of her life. [287]

The particular painting of Effie (there were several others) was originally meant to be a gift for Ruskin, but under the circumstances, it remained in the family. It is now to be seen in Wightwick Manor, in Wolverhampton. The pencil copy is interesting because it supports John Guille Millais's statement, made soon after this quiet and dignified defence of his mother, that she herself "[p]ossessed in a considerable degree of the artistic sense" (288), making her a great help to his father.

Related Material

"Breaking the Ties that Bind: Ruskin, the Divorce from Effie, and the Theory of Perfidious Elites"

Bibliography

"Euphemia 'Effie' Chalmers Gray, Mrs John Ruskin (1828-1898), later Lady Millais, with Foxgloves in her Hair (The Foxglove)." National Trust. Web. 13 October 2017.

Millais, John Guille. The Life and Letters of John Everett Millais, President of the Royal Academy. 2 vols. Vol. 1. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1899. Internet Archive. Contributd by the University of Michigan. Web. 13 October 2017.

Created 13 October 2017