Lot Essay
These hitherto unpublished drawings date from about 1847, the year before the foundation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, when Millais was eighteen. They are among a number of sketches that the precocious young artist made for the amusement of the Lemprieres, a family that he and his parents had known since the days when they all lived on Jersey. Captain William Charles Lempriere, his wife and children had settled at Ewell in Surrey, and Millais often visited them there. He found the background of his Ophelia nearby in 1851, and Arthur Lempriere, one of the sons, posed for A Huguenot at about the same date.
Arthur was later to contribute some reminiscences to J.G. Millais' biography of his father. 'Millais' power of observation', he recalled, 'even when a boy, was marvellous. After walking out with him and meeting people he would come home and draw an exact likeness of almost anyone he happened to have met. He was also well up in the anatomy of a horse, and knew exactly where every vein and bone should be, and was very fond of drawing them' (Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, 1899, I, pp.32-3). The present drawings bear out these observations. The military scenes may be connected with Captain Lempriere's career; he was in the Royal Horse Artillery and fought in the Napoleonic wars, serving under Sir John Moore in the Peninsula Campaign.
A study by Millais of Harry, Arthur and Emily Lempriere, also dating from 1847, was sold in Christie's London on 12 June 1992, lot 76.
We are grateful to Dr. Malcolm Warner for his help in preparing this entry.
Arthur was later to contribute some reminiscences to J.G. Millais' biography of his father. 'Millais' power of observation', he recalled, 'even when a boy, was marvellous. After walking out with him and meeting people he would come home and draw an exact likeness of almost anyone he happened to have met. He was also well up in the anatomy of a horse, and knew exactly where every vein and bone should be, and was very fond of drawing them' (Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, 1899, I, pp.32-3). The present drawings bear out these observations. The military scenes may be connected with Captain Lempriere's career; he was in the Royal Horse Artillery and fought in the Napoleonic wars, serving under Sir John Moore in the Peninsula Campaign.
A study by Millais of Harry, Arthur and Emily Lempriere, also dating from 1847, was sold in Christie's London on 12 June 1992, lot 76.
We are grateful to Dr. Malcolm Warner for his help in preparing this entry.