The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Not on view
In 1857, Millais agreed to provide the Dalziel Brothers with thirty drawings to illustrate the New Testament "Parables of Our Lord." The leading London firm planned to transform these into wood engravings to produce a book whose subtle beauty would match its moral appeal. The artist considered the process of illustrating each parable equal to the compositional complexities of a painting and it took him six years to complete twenty designs.
Recognizing the high quality of Millais's images, the Dalziels meticulously followed his exacting instructions and published the set in this 1864 volume (twelve of the prints had appeared serially between 1862–63 in the periodicals "Good Words," "Once a Week," and "The Cornhill Magazine"). Even though the book was not a commercial success, the Dalziels considered the prints among their best work and they demonstrate Millais's genius as an illustrator.
The volume includes a half-title, title page, leaves (i-v) and leaves 1-48. The latter includes twenty interleaved woodcuts followed by one leaf of advertisements. The edges of the pages have been gilded and the work bound in red cloth over boards with gold stamping.
