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The Northwest Passage

1881
Not on view
Based on a painting of 1874 (Tate Britain) which Millais had exhibited with the subtitle: "It might be done and England should do it." We are asked to imagine the line spoken by an elderly sailor to his daughter and the image responds to repeated, failed British naval attempts to find a sea route around the northern edge of North America, to link the Atlantic and Pacific. A young woman here leans on the knees of her father and points to an open book on her lap. Charts are spread on a table behind, and naval flags draped over a screen, with an open window at left looking out over the sea.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Northwest Passage
  • Engraver: Augustin Mongin (French, Paris 1843–1911 Châtillon-sous-Bagneux)
  • Artist: After Sir John Everett Millais (British, Southampton 1829–1896 London)
  • Printer: Chardon (Paris)
  • Publisher: Knoedler and Co. , Washington DC
  • Publisher: British and Foreign Artists' Association (London)
  • Publisher: The Printsellers' Association, London (British, established 1847)
  • Date: 1881
  • Medium: Mixed method engraving on chine collé; proof
  • Dimensions: Image: 8 1/2 × 10 5/8 in. (21.6 × 27 cm)
    Plate: 10 9/16 × 12 in. (26.8 × 30.5 cm)
    Mount: 14 3/16 × 20 3/8 in. (36 × 51.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Herman H. Lowenstein, 1973
  • Object Number: 1973.630.14
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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