Apple Blossoms (also known as Spring)

Apple Blossoms, also known as Spring, was begun in 1856 and exhibited in 1859, representing a transitional moment in Millais's career when he was moving away from the intense religious and literary Pre-Raphaelite subjects of his early career toward the more accessible genre subjects that would bring him commercial success in the 1860s. The painting depicts a group of young women and girls picnicking beneath apple trees in full blossom — a subject of pastoral freshness and seasonal celebration that also carried undertones of feminine beauty, transience, and the passage of youth. The apple blossom, beautiful and brief, was a standard symbol of the fleeting quality of youth and female beauty in Victorian culture. Millais arranged his figures with careful attention to variety and naturalness, and the overall composition has the quality of a staged pastoral scene that deliberately recalls the Old Master tradition of fête champêtre painting while remaining rooted in Victorian observation. The Lady Lever Art Gallery holds the finished work, while other versions and studies exist.

The painting demonstrates Millais's transition from the tight, jewel-like Pre-Raphaelite technique to a broader handling influenced by Reynolds and the Old Masters. The blossoming trees are painted with considerable elaboration, their white flowers distributed across the canvas to create a decorative pattern of natural ornament. The figures are arranged with attention to rhythmic variety, each occupying a distinct position within the pastoral setting.