John Everett Millais, Esq., A.R.A., from "Illustrated News of the World"

John Everett Millais, Esq., A.R.A., from "Illustrated News of the World"

Daniel John Pound

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Based on a photograph, this engraving shows the artist at thirty. A child prodigy, Millais had entered the Royal Academy Schools at eleven, then in 1848 helped launch the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and found himself at the center of a critical storm. Here, a decade later, he was on the path to eminence. Following marriage to Effie Ruskin in 1855, the couple retreated to Perth, Scotland and lived near her parents. In the winter months of 1857-60 Millais returned to London to work, then brought the family to the capital in 1861. His paintings attracted consistently good reviews and some were engraved. From 1859 Millais's designs were reproduced as wood engravings in periodicals such as "Once A Week" and, in 1863, he would be elected a Royal Academician. Pound's engraving, part of a large series, was issued as a supplement to the weekly newspaper "Illustrated News of the World." The undertaking was immensely lucrative and featured many leading contemporary celebrities including (among others) politicians, royalty, actors and, as here, artists.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Everett Millais, Esq., A.R.A., from "Illustrated News of the World"John Everett Millais, Esq., A.R.A., from "Illustrated News of the World"John Everett Millais, Esq., A.R.A., from "Illustrated News of the World"John Everett Millais, Esq., A.R.A., from "Illustrated News of the World"John Everett Millais, Esq., A.R.A., from "Illustrated News of the World"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.