Effie Gray & John Everett Millais

1855 - 1896
Effie Gray and John Everett Millais  
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Effie Gray and John Everett Millais were married for 41 years before John Everett Millais died, leaving behind his partner and 9 children.

They had 9 children, Everett, George, Effie, Mary, Alice, Geoffroy, John, Sophie and Sophia Margaret.

About

Scottish Model Effie Gray was born Euphemia Chalmers Gray on 7th May, 1828 in Perth, Scotland and passed away on 23rd Dec 1897 Bowerswell aged 69. She is most remembered for One of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists' models. Her zodiac sign is Taurus.

English Painter John Everett Millais was born on 8th June, 1829 in Southampton, England and passed away on 13th Aug 1896 Kensington, London aged 67. He is most remembered for One of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.. His zodiac sign is Gemini.

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References

Relationship Statistics

StatusDurationLength
Married1855 - Aug 1896 41 years, 7 months
Total 1855 - Aug 1896 41 years, 7 months


(1855 – 13 August 1896) his death
Effie Gray was the wife of the critic John Ruskin, but left her husband without the marriage being consummated, and after the annulment of the marriage, married his protégé, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais.
When she met Millais five years after her marriage to Ruskin, she was still a virgin, as Ruskin had persistently put off consummating the marriage.
While married to Ruskin, she modelled for Millais' painting The Order of Release, in which she was depicted as the loyal wife of a Scottish rebel who has secured his release from prison. She then became close to Millais when he accompanied the couple on a trip to Scotland in order to paint Ruskin's portrait according to the critic's artistic principles. During this time, spent in Brig o' Turk in the Trossachs, they fell in love. She left Ruskin and, with the support of her family and a number of influential friends, filed for an annulment, causing a major public scandal; their marriage was annulled in 1854. In 1855, she married John Millais and eventually bore him eight children: Everett, born in 1856; George, born in 1857; Effie, born in 1858; Mary, born in 1860; Alice, born in 1862; Geoffroy, born in 1863; John in 1865; and Sophie in 1868. Their youngest son John Guille Millais was a notable bird artist and gardener. She also modelled for a number of her husband's works, notably Peace Concluded (1856), which idealises her as an icon of beauty and fertility.
When Ruskin later sought to become engaged to a teenage girl, Rose La Touche, Rose's parents were concerned. They wrote to Gray to ask about the marriage; she replied by describing Ruskin as an oppressive husband. The engagement was broken off.
After his marriage, Millais began to paint in a broader style, which Ruskin condemned as a "catastrophe". Marriage had given him a large family to support, and it is claimed that his wife encouraged him to churn out popular works for financial gain and to maintain her busy social life. However, there is no evidence that she consciously pressured him to do so, though she was an effective manager of his career and often collaborated with him in choosing subjects. Her journal indicates her high regard for her husband's art, and his works are still recognisably Pre-Raphaelite in style several years after his marriage.
However, Millais eventually abandoned the Pre-Raphaelite obsession with detail and began to paint in a looser style which produced more paintings for the time and effort. Many were inspired by his family life with his wife, often using his children and grandchildren as models. Millais also used his sister-in-law, Sophy Gray, then in her early teens, as the basis of some striking images in the mid to late 1850s, provoking suggestions of a mutual infatuation.

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Relationship Timeline

August, 1896 - Breakup

1855 - Marriage

1855 - Marriage

1854 - Hookup

Couple Comparison

Name
Effie Gray
John Everett Millais
Effie Gray
John Everett Millais
Age (at start of relationship)
26
25
Zodiac
Taurus
Gemini
Occupation
Model
Painter
Nationality
Scottish
English
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Children

NameGenderBornAge
EverettMale
GeorgeMale
EffieFemale
MaryFemale
AliceFemale
GeoffroyMale
JohnMale
SophieFemale
Sophia MargaretFemale

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