Artwork
Love
Love is a watercolor work on paper by the Impressionist artist John Everett Millais. It dates from 1862 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
John Everett Millais’s watercolour titled “Love” depicts a man and a woman embracing beneath a night‑time tree. The figures are dressed in period costume, the woman in a flowing gown and the male in a dark coat, evoking a medieval aesthetic. The scene is rendered in delicate washes characteristic of the medium.
Subject & Meaning
The composition visualises the narrative of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “Love,” which describes a secret midnight rendezvous between two lovers. Millais translates the poem’s romantic intimacy into a visual tableau, emphasizing the closeness of the couple and the hushed atmosphere of the nocturnal setting.
Technique & Style
Executed in watercolour, the work employs fine, translucent layers to model light and shadow, creating a soft, atmospheric effect. Millais’s attention to detail in the medieval‑style attire reflects the Pre‑Raphaelite interest in historical dress and precise rendering, while the overall palette remains muted to suggest nightfall.
History & Provenance
The image first appeared in the 1857 illustrated edition of Poets of the Nineteenth Century published by the Dalziel brothers, prominent Victorian book‑illustrators. Millais completed the watercolour about five years after the poem’s inclusion, contributing it as a commissioned illustration for the volume.
Context
Millais, a founding member of the Pre‑Raphaelite Brotherhood, often looked to early Renaissance art for inspiration, favoring vivid detail and historical subjects. This illustration aligns with the Brotherhood’s broader aim to revive medieval themes and integrate literature with visual art, a common practice in mid‑19th‑century publishing.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet ( MIL-ay; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
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