Pre Raphaelite Gallery

My First Sermon, 1863, (1947). Creator: John Everett Millais

My First Sermon, 1863, (1947). The Artist's Daughter in Winchelsea Church': portrait of Millais daughter Effie, aged about five, sitting upright and somewhat daunted, listening to the preacher's message. The location was probably All Saints Church at Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey. A companion piece, painted a year or so later, shows her fast asleep, the novelty of a church service having waned. Painting in the Guildhall Art Gallery, London. From "English Hymns and Hymn Writers", by Adam Fox. [Collins, London, 1947]

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The Awakening Conscience, 1852-1854. Creator: William Holman Hunt

The Awakening Conscience, 1852-1854. A mistress or kept woman and her lover have been playing and singing to Thomas Moore's "Oft in the Stilly Night". Suddenly she has a moment of revelation: she has lost her innocence but the ray of light in the foreground indicates that redemption is still possible. The image is full of symbolism: the cat toying with a broken-winged bird echoes the woman's plight, and a man's discarded glove warns us that the likely fate of a cast-off mistress was prostitution. Victorian morality dictated that women were the guardians of purity while men bore little or no responsibility. Painting in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London. From "Pre-Raphaelite Painters" by Robin Ironside, with a descriptive catalogue by John Gere. [The Phaidon Press Ltd, London, 1948]

© Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images

Love's Melancholy, 1866. Creator: Constant Mayer

Love's Melancholy, 1866. Painting of a woman wearing a long black dress with a white scarf tied around her neck. She holds a bouquet of flowers and wears a wedding ring, and looks down toward the ground with a solemn disposition. The sun sets in the background, illuminating a far away church steeple

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