Daydreams

This small, velvet clad girl is the artist's daughter. Millais is said to have been a doting father. He was one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of artists at odds with the art establishment of the day who attempted to return their art to what they considered the purer values of an earlier time. In the 1960s Millais began to specialise in portraiture in which he was very successful. He had an excellent ability to capture the likeness and personality of his sitters. He often painted children but some of these portraits have been criticised as overly sentimental. One of his most famous paintings is of a small boy blowing bubbles which was used by the soap makers Pears in an advertisment within Millais' lifetime.