The Artist in the House of His Patron: Images-within-Images in John Everett Millais's Portraits of the Wyatt Family

Author: Roach, Catherine

Source: Visual Culture in Britain, Volume 9, Number 2, Winter 2008 , pp. 1-20(20)

Publisher: Manchester University Press

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Abstract:

As a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, John Everett Millais is often thought to have rejected conventional artistic precedents during the early years of his career. Two lesser-known works from this period, however, reveal Millais's intense engagement with art of the past, 'Raphaelite' or otherwise: the pendant portraits created for the Oxford art dealer James Wyatt, James Wyatt and his Granddaughter, Mary Wyatt (1849) and Eliza Wyatt and her Daughter, Sarah Wyatt (1850). These portraits depict numerous other works of art, which in their facture as well as their mere presence provide telling commentary on Millais's artistic outlook. The more explicit visual citations in the Wyatt portraits can also be used to interpret other works by this artist in which the relationship to artistic precedents is less clear, such as Christ in the House of His Parents (1849-50). This article proposes a new framework for analysing different forms of visual reference: allusion (a reference that is integrated into the overall scene) verses inclusion (the overt citation of an image-within-an-image). As the example of Millais demonstrates, images-within-images offer a crucial but often overlooked source of information about artists' attitudes to the visual canons of their day.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2008-12-01

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