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AUTUMN LEAVES

As an example of his use of poetic and tender sentiment this picture is now rightly admired as the most fascinating of all the works which he produced during his life. It is neither a great composition nor an amazing illustration of minute patience in technical performance; but it has a spontaneous charm of manner that puts it among the few modern masterpieces. When it was first exhibited it was not properly understood by the general public, but expert observers even then appreciated its delicate symbolism, and saw in it qualities of the noblest kind. Mr. Ruskin praised it with generous enthusiasm, and not only ranked it as one of the monumental canvases of the world, but declared that not even to Titian could be assigned a place higher than that which Millais had reached by this triumphant achievement.

Judged as a piece of painting it is surprisingly free from all those little artifices which a less thoughtful artist would have used to increase the strength of his appeal to the attention of the public. It is studiously quiet in manner and formal in composition, an arrangement of severe lines and simple masses, which might easily have been made blankly inexpressive if they had been managed with less subtle perception of the deeper possibilities of the subject. But this very reserve gives the picture much of its strangely sympathetic beauty, and increases its hold upon the feelings of all people who are not satisfied with the superficialities of pictorial art. The attitudes of the figures, the expressions of the faces, the bareness of the landscape against which the group of children is set, and the solemn stillness of the autumn twilight which pervades the whole composition are all of value in the carrying out of the artist's intention. The lingering sadness of autumn is throughout the idea which was in his mind, and the way in which this is symbolised in every touch and every detail is well-nigh perfect.

The picture is also remarkable because it is practically the first in which Millais showed that masterly understanding of the character and ways of children, which was so often and so delightfully displayed in his later production. The young girls who are grouped round the fire of faded leaves are painted with inimitable grace and tenderness. Their unconscious naturalness is wholly charming, their unstudied ease of gesture is extraordinarily well rendered; and there is in the purity of the delicate little faces a suggestion of the innocence of childhood which is exquisitely fresh and attractive. Yet no impossible idealisation spoils the truth of the painting. They are frankly children who play their parts in it, not little angels with none of the instincts of human beings.

THE VALE OF REST

Perhaps the greatest triumph of all is the way in which the picture, despite the sadness, the grimness almost, of the subject, escapes morbidity. It would have been so easy to introduce into it a touch of fantastic mysticism, or to spoil its mystery by asserting too plainly the moral of the story, but the artist has been proof against every temptation, and has gone through with the work in the way that his wholesome instincts told him would be most correct. The dominant note is one of peace, and the restfulness of the secluded convent graveyard in which the last act of the drama of life is played typifies truly the long sleep which comes at last to end the troubles and strivings of humanity. None of the turmoil of the world intrudes into this vale of rest, and even nature herself is in sympathy with its gentle calm.

SOUVENIR OF VELASQUEZ

That this performance was not a happy accident, one of those chance successes which sometimes come to an artist as a result of a fortunate combination of circumstances, was put beyond doubt by the character of his contributions to the Academy exhibitions during the next half dozen years. He fully maintained the high level of executive performance at which he had arrived, and continued steadily to widen the scope of his activity. There seemed to be no problem of handling which he was unprepared to attack and no difficulty that he feared as insurmountable.

THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE

In this work, painted in 1874, he displayed his strength in a large and ambitious composition. As a subject picture it may fairly be reckoned as the most complete assertion of his mature conviction that he ever put before the public. Its motive was one calculated to appeal vividly to his militant instincts, and was suited in every way to his robust and energetic personality. The idea of indomitable perseverance in the face of apparently overwhelming dangers, of tenacious effort to triumphantly accomplish a great intention, was quite in accordance with his natural sympathies; and the picture has therefore an inner significance to which almost as much interest attaches as to its outward aspect of unhesitating certainty. It is, perhaps, a little unequal in execution, but parts of it are magnificent, and especially the head of the old seaman, who sits at the table and listens to the story of Arctic exploration that is being read to him by the girl seated at his feet. The sitter for this splendid study of rugged age was Mr. Trelawny, the friend of Shelley and Byron.

A YEOMAN OF THE GUARD

Another masterpiece exhibited three years later has now found a permanent resting-place in the National Gallery. This riotous and gorgeous exercise in strong colour could only have been accomplished by an artist whose splendid audacity was equalled by his knowledge of his craft. The scarlet uniform, with its lavish embroidery of black and gold and picturesque fashion, was something that exactly suited his fancy; and he revelled in his struggle with the many problems of technique which such a subject presented for solution. Yet there is little sign in the picture that he found it more than usually exacting; and there is no evidence that he devoted to it an exceptional amount of labour. It is particularly memorable for its consistent and thorough treatment, for the sound judgment with which every variation of the colour and every component part of the design have been managed; and it seems to have been carried through without hesitation or change of intention. It is an unfaltering record of a clearly defined impression, and is not less interesting on account of the sensitive and characteristic rendering of the worn, old face of the model than as a piece of still life painting of quite extraordinary force. The qualities that make it great are those which distinguish the productions of none but the unquestionable masters of pictorial art.

THOMAS CARLYLE

THE CHIEF WORKS OF MILLAIS IN PUBLIC GALLERIES, ETC.

NATIONAL GALLERY.

The Yeoman of the Guard. 1876. 4 ft. 7 in. by 3 ft. 8 in.

Portrait of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. 1879. 4 ft. 1 in. by 3 ft.

TATE GALLERY.

Ophelia. 1852. 2 ft. 6 in. by 3 ft. 8 in. Tate Gift.

The Vale of Rest. 1858. 3 ft. 4 in. by 5 ft. 7 in. Tate Gift.

The Knight Errant. 1870. 6 ft. by 4 ft. 5 in. Tate Gift.

The North-West Passage. 1874. 5 ft. 9 in. by 7 ft. 4 in. Tate Gift.

Mercy--St. Bartholomew's Day--1572. 1886. 6 ft. 1 in. by 4 ft. 4 in. Tate Gift.

Saint Stephen. 1895. 5 ft. by 3 ft. 9 in. Tate Gift.

A Disciple. 1895. 4 ft. 1 in. by 2 ft. 11 in. Tate Gift.

Speak! Speak! 1895. 5 ft. 6 in. by 6 ft. 11 in. Chantrey Bequest.

The Order of Release--1746. 1853. 3 ft. 4 in. by 2 ft. 5 in. Tate Gift.

The Boyhood of Raleigh. 4 ft. by 4 ft. 8 in. Gift of Lady Tate.

A Maid offering a Basket of Fruit to a Cavalier. 6 in. by 4 1/2 in. Bequeathed by Mr. Henry Vaughan.

N.B. Sir Edwin Landseer painted the gray palfrey with the gorgeous accoutrements, intending it for an equestrian portrait of Queen Victoria, but this was never carried out, and ultimately the picture was sent to Millais, who painted his daughter, now Mrs. James, in this old riding costume, together with the page, the dog, and the background, and called the picture "Nell Gwynne." It is also sometimes known as Diana Vernon.

It is initialled both by Landseer and Millais, and the date is that of its completion by Millais.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.

The Earl of Beaconsfield. A copy by Boyle from Millais' portrait.

Thomas Carlyle. 1877. An unfinished portrait. 3 ft. 9 in. by 2 ft. 10 in.

William Wilkie Collins, the novelist. 11 in. by 7 in.

John Leech, caricaturist. In water-colours. 11 in. by 9 in.

BIRMINGHAM ART GALLERY.

The Widow's Mite. 1869. 3 ft. 10 in. by 2 ft. 7 in.

The Blind Girl. 1856. Pre-Raphaelite work. 2 ft. 8 in. by 1 ft. 9 in. Presented by the Rt. Hon. William Kenrick.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY, QUEEN VICTORIA ST., LONDON.

Portrait of the Earl of Shaftesbury. 1877.

CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.

Portrait of the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone. 1885.

FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGE.

The Bridesmaid. 1851.

THE GARRICK CLUB, LONDON.

Portrait of Sir Henry Irving. 1884.

INSTITUTE OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, LONDON.

Portrait of Sir John Fowler, Bart., C.E. 1868.

LEEDS ART GALLERY

Childhood. } Youth. } A series of panels for lunettes Manhood. } formerly in the Judges' Lodgings in Age. } Leeds. Painted in 1847. Music. } Art. }

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