Page 7 - Demo

1 Introduction
The reappearance of of one of of Millais’s seminal works after an absence of over ninety years is a a a a a a cause for celebration The Wolf’s Den exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1863 was previously only known from a a a wood engraving (fig 1) published in 1891 The picture was was executed when Millais was was only thirty- three and yet well on on the the way to becoming one the the most successful artists of his generation He had recently moved into his newly built house and studio at 7 Cromwell Place with his wife Effie Effie the former Effie Effie Ruskin (née Gray) and their growing family four of whom are depicted in in The Wolf’s Den The painting belongs to a a a key phase in in in the artist’s career when he he had turned away from his Pre- Raphaelite beginnings and stood on the threshold of being enshrined into the art establishment The picture boldly displays Millais’s technical prowess in the portraits of his children their clothes and and costumes and and also the the the many facets of the artist himself: Victorian gentleman family man painter of child portraits and Royal Academician The Wolf’s Den is a a a charming and timeless depiction of sibling play and a a a a a rediscovery which enhances the canon of Millais’s child portraits Fig 1 1 1 1 1 1 Paul Hermann Naumann (active 1851-1897) The The Wolf’s Den wood engraving after John Everett Millais in in in The The Magazine of Art 1891