Vanessa

Vanessa of 1868, at Sudley House in Liverpool, takes its title from the name Jonathan Swift gave to his close companion Esther Vanhomrigh — a woman of considerable intelligence and feeling who became deeply attached to Swift and whose relationship with him was never fully resolved. The name had also been used in verse and fiction throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a marker for a particular kind of intelligent, passionate femininity. Millais's choice of the name implies a literary resonance without illustrating any specific scene. Sudley House, originally the home of wealthy Liverpool merchant Richard Naylor, contains an outstanding collection of Victorian paintings assembled with particular care, and Vanessa sits within that context as a prime example of Millais's 1860s manner — a young woman of evident inner life, beautifully rendered, inviting the viewer's imaginative engagement.

Oil on canvas, executed with the more fluid approach Millais had developed by the late 1860s. The face is carefully modelled, with warm glazes over a lighter ground. Drapery falls with natural ease, painted with confident directional strokes. The colour range is warm and harmonious, uniting figure and setting.