Sir John Everett Millais - Blue Plaque

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Born in Southampton on 8 June 1829, Sir John Everett Millais became one of the wealthiest artists of his time. One of his paintings, The Boyhood of Raleigh, was painted while visiting Budleigh Salterton in 1870 and features the wall at the start of Marine Parade.


John spent much of his childhood in Jersey, and it was his mother Emily’s rather forceful personality and enthusiasm for his talent that instigated their move to London so he could meet people with contacts at the Royal Academy of Art. At the age of just 11 he won a scholarship and entered The Royal Academy Schools.


In the early 1850’s, John met and fell in love with Effie when she modelled for his painting The Order of Release 1746. Effie was already married to John’s friend and art critic, John Ruskin, but after their marriage was annulled, John and Effie married in 1855. They went on to have eight children together, 4 boys and 4 girls. The 2014 film Effie Grey, written by Emma Thompson, tells the story of Effie’s annulled marriage and early relationship with John Millais.


Millais was inspired to paint the Boyhood of Raleigh after reading about Sir Walter Raleigh and Elizabethan seafarers. In 1870, he travelled to Budleigh Salterton and stayed at The Octagon, just opposite from Raleigh’s Wall. His sons Everett and George were with him and they modelled for the boys in the painting. 

 

The painting quickly received acclaim and was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1871.


Sir Walter Raleigh himself was born close by at Hayes Barton in East Budleigh in January 1552.  


Millais died from throat cancer on 13 August 1896 at the age of 67.


Reference: wikipedia


Black and White image: The Octagon 1920's - Steve Richardson