'A true daughter of ancient Britain': gender and nation in John Everett Millais's The Romans Leaving Britain (1865)
- Author
- Gilles Weyns (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- When John Everett Millais (1829 – 1896) first exhibited his large-format historical painting The Romans Leaving Britain at the Royal Academy in 1865, he sparked a lively debate in the periodical press. The painting, which was based on an earlier drawing he had made in 1853, presented a parting scene between a Roman soldier and a Celtic woman, the soldier kneeling before the woman in a last passionate embrace on a cliff-path overlooking the sea. The dramatic, historical moment was the departure of the Roman legions in the late fourth or early fifth centuries AD. Millais confronted his Victorian public with a man kneeling at the feet of a woman in a close physical contact. Moreover, he depicted a Roman subjecting himself to a native British woman. Such a theme was highly unique in Victorian history painting. This analysis of The Romans Leaving Britain and its critical reception offers a new perspective on Britain’s Celtic ancestors and a reassessment of normative Victorian gender roles.
- Keywords
- Celtic, Millais, Roman, historical painting, Pre-Raphaelite, gender, nation, Ancient Britons, Victorian, reception studies, RSVP
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-7259462
- MLA
- Weyns, Gilles. “‘A True Daughter of Ancient Britain’: Gender and Nation in John Everett Millais’s The Romans Leaving Britain (1865).” HISTORICA, edited by Kirsten Zimmerman, no. 1, Vereniging voor Gendergeschiedenis, 2016, pp. 8–14.
- APA
- Weyns, G. (2016). “A true daughter of ancient Britain”: gender and nation in John Everett Millais’s The Romans Leaving Britain (1865). HISTORICA, (1), 8–14.
- Chicago author-date
- Weyns, Gilles. 2016. “‘A True Daughter of Ancient Britain’: Gender and Nation in John Everett Millais’s The Romans Leaving Britain (1865).” Edited by Kirsten Zimmerman. HISTORICA, no. 1: 8–14.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Weyns, Gilles. 2016. “‘A True Daughter of Ancient Britain’: Gender and Nation in John Everett Millais’s The Romans Leaving Britain (1865).” Ed by. Kirsten Zimmerman. HISTORICA (1): 8–14.
- Vancouver
- 1.Weyns G. “A true daughter of ancient Britain”: gender and nation in John Everett Millais’s The Romans Leaving Britain (1865). Zimmerman K, editor. HISTORICA. 2016;(1):8–14.
- IEEE
- [1]G. Weyns, “‘A true daughter of ancient Britain’: gender and nation in John Everett Millais’s The Romans Leaving Britain (1865),” HISTORICA, no. 1, pp. 8–14, 2016.
@article{7259462, abstract = {{When John Everett Millais (1829 – 1896) first exhibited his large-format historical painting The Romans Leaving Britain at the Royal Academy in 1865, he sparked a lively debate in the periodical press. The painting, which was based on an earlier drawing he had made in 1853, presented a parting scene between a Roman soldier and a Celtic woman, the soldier kneeling before the woman in a last passionate embrace on a cliff-path overlooking the sea. The dramatic, historical moment was the departure of the Roman legions in the late fourth or early fifth centuries AD. Millais confronted his Victorian public with a man kneeling at the feet of a woman in a close physical contact. Moreover, he depicted a Roman subjecting himself to a native British woman. Such a theme was highly unique in Victorian history painting. This analysis of The Romans Leaving Britain and its critical reception offers a new perspective on Britain’s Celtic ancestors and a reassessment of normative Victorian gender roles.}}, articleno = {{1}}, author = {{Weyns, Gilles}}, editor = {{Zimmerman, Kirsten}}, issn = {{1382-3914}}, journal = {{HISTORICA}}, keywords = {{Celtic,Millais,Roman,historical painting,Pre-Raphaelite,gender,nation,Ancient Britons,Victorian,reception studies,RSVP}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{1:8--1:14}}, publisher = {{Vereniging voor Gendergeschiedenis}}, title = {{'A true daughter of ancient Britain': gender and nation in John Everett Millais's The Romans Leaving Britain (1865)}}, year = {{2016}}, }