Portia from The Merchant of Venice
Portia c1886 by British Painter Sir John Everett Millais (1829 – 1896), illustrator and one of the co-founders of the Pre-Raphailite Brotherhood.
From The Metropolitan Museum of Art
I Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, heltinden Portia forklæder sig i advokatklæder og overlader pengeudlåneren Shylock i retten, forhindrer ham i at udtrække sin berygtede lånebud på a “pund kød.
From The Useum.org
Dette billede blev længe forkert identificeret som et portræt af skuespilleren Ellen Terry (1847–1928) i en af hendes mest berømte roller, Portia i Shakespeares købmand i Venedig. Faktisk, det viser skuespillerinden Kate Dolan (? – ?) klædt i det kostume, som Miss Terry bar i akt IV af stykket. Da billedet blev udstillet i McLean's Gallery, London, i 1886, Shylock’s line describing Portia was quoted in the catalogue: “A Daniel come to judgement! Yea, a Daniel!”
X-rays and pentimenti(a visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer or layers of paint on a canvas.) indicate that Portia is painted over a study of the same figure in Greek costume. An early photograph documenting the original image was published in 1899.
Dette er en retoucheret digital kunst, som gamle mestre gengiver et billede af det offentlige domæne.
Oplysninger nedenfor stammer fra Wikipedia.org
John was a child prodigy who at the age of eleven became the youngest student to enter the Ruyal Academy Schools in 1840.
The The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of which John was a member was founded at his family home in London, at 83 Gower Street (now number 7); and he became the most prominent member of the style.
In the mid 1850s Millais created to important paintings Christ in the House of His Parents c1849/50; which resulted in a considerable amount of controversy; and Ophelia, c1851/52; which is considered the embodiment of the historical and naturalist focus of the Brotherhood.
But by the mid 1850s it was evident that Millais was moving away from the Pre-Raphaelite style and developing a new form of realism art.
These later works were highly successful, and made John one of the wealthiest artists of his day.