Anthony Ashley-Cooper (1801–1885), 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, President of the Bible Society

John Everett Millais's 1877 portrait of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, depicts one of the great Victorian philanthropists — the man whose factory legislation protected child workers and who was the most prominent Christian philanthropist of his era. Shaftesbury was among the most admired men in Britain at his death, and Millais's portrait for the Cambridge University Library's Bible Society connection honors both his religious commitment and his humanitarian legacy. The commission acknowledges a man whose moral legacy extended far beyond his aristocratic station.

Millais renders the aged earl with the psychological penetration he brought to his best portraits — the face of a man who has sustained decades of principled public service, painted with sympathy but without sentimentality. His fluid, confident brushwork creates a living presence rather than a formal effigy.