The Order of Release, 1746
The Order of Release, 1746 is a 1852–53 painting by John [Everett Millais] exhibited in 1853. It is notable for marking the beginnings of Millais's move away from the highly medievalist Pre-Raphaelitism of his early years. Effie Gray, who later left her husband John Ruskin for Millais, modelled for the female figure.
The painting
The painting depicts the wife of a Highland Jacobite soldier, who has been imprisoned after the Jacobite rising of 1745, with an order securing his release. She holds her child, showing the order to a guard, while her husband embraces her.The Illustrated London News reviewed the painting as follows:
The dark, generalised background is a departure from the highly detailed backgrounds of earlier works such as Ophelia, as is the emphatic chiaroscuro. However, the portrayal of tense relationships disrupted by historical dramas was a continuation of the theme of A Huguenot and The Proscribed Royalist, 1651.
While working on the painting, Millais began to develop a friendship with Effie, the wife of his principal supporter, the critic John Ruskin. A study for the painting has a drawing of her head on one side and an image of a man kneeling in supplication to a woman on the other, labelled "accepted."
Ownership
The painting was bought in 1853 by Joseph Arden, a lawyer, for £400. Arden went on to collect further paintings by Millais: Waiting and The [Rescue |The Rescue]. The latter is a pendant to The Order of Release.It was presented to the Tate Gallery in 1898 by Sir Henry Tate.