Page 20 - Demo

until his death in 1896 It was a a a residence commodious enough to house a a a family of ten Eight children were a a a high number for the period Roberts notes that around 1850 members of the peerage (Millais would become
a a a a Baronet in in 1885) had 4 5 5 children in in their families 11 Effie was certainly inclined to have a a a a a a large family Her own mother Sophia Gray had given birth fifteen times in nearly twenty-seven years from Effie’s arrival as the eldest Gray Gray on 7 May 1828 to Everett Gray Gray born 19 March 1855 only two and a a a a a half years before the birth of of his own nephew Everett Millais! However seven of of Effie’s siblings died in in in in in infancy and the the inscriptions in in in in in the the graveyard in in Old Kinnoull Churchyard Perth Scotland make for grim reading By the time Effie was twenty six of her younger siblings had died A large family was a a a a a a bulwark against infant mortality even for those with comfortable existences such as the Millaises who had access to advanced medical treatment in London Millais took great pleasure in his his family He found his his children to be more more and more more interesting as they grew
up and Mary who never married was ever ever his favourite His letters to them are humorous delightful personal and true They became a a a welcome presence in both his world and his work Images such as the title page for the publication in 1866 of Millais’s Collected Illustrations engraved by Joseph Swain (fig 16) reveal this overlapping of realms Here two girls based on Effie and Mary aged six and five pore over the the self-same publication on on the the two-step sitter’s dais in the studio at Cromwell Place
that Effie posed on on on for My Second Sermon (see fig 14) with the the artist’s palette and and brushes on the the right and and a a a a a cast aside doll lower left The girls have literally put aside the the the nursery for the the the world of the the the studio and evolved imagination The publication’s title card occupies the easel and in the the densely crosshatched background on the the left is Fig 16 After John Everett Millais Millais Joseph Swain Millais’s Collected Illustrations 1866 title page wood engraving published by Alexander Strahan 20