Miss Eveleen Tennant

Sir John Everett Millais, Bt (1829-1896)

1874

Oil on canvas

1079 x 800 mm

Courtesy Tate Britain, Ref. N05260. Presented by Harold Myers 1941

“Millais was one of the most successful society portrait painters of the late nineteenth century. Miss Eveleen Tennant is painted with the bold and fluent handling of paint and rich impasto (a thick build up of oil paint) characteristic of a new approach which he had adopted in the 1860s. This style is in stark contrast to the high finish and minute detail of his earlier Pre-Raphaelite works. Millais's working methods as a portraitist were notoriously energetic and were noted by several of his sitters. It was once remarked that he must have walked at least a mile in the course of each sitting.” — Tate Britain commentary

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