Christ in the House of His Parents

Millais painted Christ in the House of His Parents in 1849-1850, one of the most controversial paintings of the Victorian era. The painting depicts the young Christ in Joseph's carpenter's workshop, having cut his hand on a nail — a prefiguration of the Crucifixion. Charles Dickens attacked the painting viciously in Household Words for its perceived irreverence, calling the Virgin Mary a slattern, and the controversy made the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood nationally famous.

The painting's unflinching naturalism, with every detail of the workshop rendered from direct observation, violated Victorian conventions for religious art. Millais's technique of painting over a white ground creates an almost hallucinatory clarity that gives equal weight to every element.