John Everett Millais

Born into a prominent Jersey family, he remained devoted to the island all his life, once jokingly claiming that 'Jersey conquered England.'¹

A child prodigy, Millais became the youngest student ever to enter the Royal Academy Schools at the age of eleven, later becoming a central figure in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.¹

In 1848, he founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with Hunt and Rossetti at his London home, seeking a return to the detailed style of early Renaissance art.¹

His painting 'Christ in the House of His Parents' caused major controversy due to its realistic portrayal of the Holy Family as working-class laborers.¹

In works like Ophelia, he established a unique realism described as a 'pictorial eco-system,' characterized by meticulous observation and dense naturalistic detail.¹

From the mid-1850s, he moved away from Pre-Raphaelite detail toward a broader realism, looking to Old Masters like Velázquez and Rembrandt as models.¹

He fell in love with Effie Gray, then wife of critic John Ruskin. Their marriage after her annulment was a major scandal that influenced his artistic shift.¹

To support his eight children, he became highly prolific, amassing great wealth through historical paintings and portraits, becoming one of Britain's richest artists.¹

Through historical paintings like 'The Northwest Passage,' he addressed the interests of the expanding British Empire, gaining immense popular support.¹

His later work 'Bubbles' was famously used in soap advertisements, leading critics like William Morris to accuse him of 'selling out' for commercial success.¹