A Momentary Vision

 John Everett Millais, one of the giants of Victorian art, was born on this day in 1829. A child prodigy and a formidably gifted painter, he was a founder and star of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but, as his career progressed and he achieved great wealth and social eminence, his work became less interesting, and he was liable to lapse into sentimentality and crowd-pleasing showpieces, reaching a nadir with works like 'Bubbles', used to advertise Pear's soap. It's unlikely that any amount of critical revisionism will rescue much of his later work, even the bleak, unpopulated landscapes he painted in Perthshire on his annual hunting-and-fishing holidays (one of the best known of these, 'Chill October', is owned by Lord Lloyd Webber).  In 1885 he became the first artist to be honoured with a hereditary title, becoming Baronet Millais of Palace Gate (where his Kensington mansion still stands), and in 1896 he inevitably succeeded Lord Leighton as President of the Royal Academy. 
  Max Beerbohm's caricature, 'A Momentary Vision that Once Befell Young Millais', tells the story perfectly. The youthful Millais, in Pre-Raphaelite mode, is startled by a glimpse of what he is to become – a plump, contented member of the squirearchy, devoted to hunting, fishing and high society. Beerbohm places a little girl in a mob cap on his knee as a reminder of the sentimental prettiness that won him such popularity and wealth. As ever with Beerbohm, there is no malice in the portrayal, which is less a caricature of Millais himself than of the common perception of the unfortunate course of his career. The painting on the easel – 'Ferdinand Lured by Ariel' – stands as a reminder of what a daring and brilliant painter Millais could be.