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John Everett Millais as Dante
Wynfield, David Wilkie, born 1837 - died 1887 - Enlarge image
John Everett Millais as Dante
- Object:
Photograph
- Place of origin:
London (photographed)
- Date:
1860s (photographed)
- Artist/Maker:
Wynfield, David Wilkie, born 1837 - died 1887 (photographer)
- Materials and Techniques:
albumen print from wet-collodion glass-plate negative
- Credit Line:
Gift of Dr Harold G. Hodgson
- Museum number:
125-1945
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F, case X, shelf 842
This portrait represents the painter John Everett Millais, who is dressed up as Dante. At this date Millais had become fashionable and had left behind many of his Pre-Raphaelite ideals. It is interesting that he still chose to impersonate the great early Renaissance poet who was so important to the Pre-Raphaelites. David Wynfield was a painter of historical genre scenes as well as a photographer. However, he began registering his photographs for copyright purposes from December 1863, which indicates that they too had commercial and artistic significance for him. He was a founder member of the St John's Wood Clique in the early 1860s. Members shared an interest in historical genre and often held fancy-dress gatherings.