The Proscribed Royalist
Not on view
A young Puritan woman looks anxiously over her shoulder as she hands food to a Royalist soldier hiding in a hollow oak. He is on the run after the 1651 defeat of Charles II’s troops at Worcester, the last major battle of the English Civil War. The suggestion that the two are star-crossed lovers echoes Bellini’s I Puritani—an opera that Millais likely saw at Covent Garden before completing The Proscribed Royalist (1853; The Andrew Lloyd Weber Collection). The publication of this reproductive print in 1858 testifies to the success of his conception. Simmons skillfully mixed etching, mezzotint, and stipple to contrast the textures of smooth skin and fabric, rough bark and dappled foliage. As a former member of the recently disbanded Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Millais continued to make nature studies to underpin the physical and emotional immediacy of his subjects.
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