79
B+WTHE NATIONAL
MEDIA MUSEUM
The National Media Museum
is home to over 3.5 million
items of historical signifi cance.
It looks after the National
Photography, National
Cinematography, National
Television and National
New Media collections.National Media Museum,
Bradford, West Yorkshire
0844 856 3797
nationalmediamuseum.org.ukJohn Ruskin, carte de visite portrait
by Elliot and Fry, c.1870.poet Dante. This photograph
was one of a series published in
1864 under the title The Studio:
A Collection of Photographic
Portraits of Living Artists, taken
in the style of the Old Masters.
Wynfield’s portraits directly
inspired the work of his far
better known contemporary,
Julia Margaret Cameron.
Ruskin befriended Millais,
promoting his work which many
contemporaries had criticised
and providing patronage and
encouragement. Struck by her
beauty, Millais used Effie as the
model for his painting The Order
of Release, 174 6 which was shown
at the Royal Academy in 1852.
Spending weeks together in a
cottage in Scotland, with Millais
constantly sketching Effie while
Ruskin had his head buried in his
books, the inevitable happened.
Effie and Millais fell in love.
The woman who persuaded
Effie to escape her loveless
marriage was Lady Elizabeth
Eastlake. Born Elizabeth Rigby,
Lady Eastlake was a writer, art
critic and art historian. Living in
Edinburgh in the 1840s she was at
the centre of the city’s intellectual
circle and was photographed by
David Octavius Hill and Robertbrought him into regular contact
with Ruskin and Millais.
Both Eastlakes, husband and
wife, championed photography. In
1853 Sir Charles became the first
president of the newly-formed
Photographic Society (now the
RPS). In 1857, Lady Eastlake
contributed one of the earliest
and most important articles
about photography for Quarterly
Review magazine: ‘photography
has become a household word and
a household want; is used alike by
art and science, by love, business,
and justice...’
Too old to start a family of her
own, Lady Eastlake (played in
Effie Gray by Emma Thompson,
who also wrote the screenplay)
took an almost parental interest
in Effie Gray’s welfare. Effie
eventually revealed to Lady
Eastlake the secret of her
husband’s refusal to consummate
their marriage. Realising this
meant that the marriage wasn’t
legally binding, Lady Eastlake
arranged for Effie to leave Ruskin
and file for an annulment.
A major public scandal ensued.
Ruskin decided not to fight the
case in court and the marriage
was annulled in 1854. The
following year Effie married
Millais and the couple went on to
have eight children.
Sir Charles Eastlake died
in Pisa, Italy, in 1865. Lady
Eastlake outlived her husband
by nearly 30 years, dying in 1893.
Millais died in 1896 and Effie
the following year. John Ruskin
outlived them all. He never
married and his reputation never
fully recovered from the scandal
of his unconsummated marriage.
He died in 1900.John Everett Millais as Dante by David Wilkie Wynfi eld, c.1860.Adamson. In 1849, she married
Sir Charles Eastlake. A highly
influential figure in the artworld, Charles Eastlake became
president of the Royal Academy
the following year – a role whichJohn Everett Millais, carte de visite portrait
by Samuel Poulton, c.1862.78-79_BEHIND_THE_SCENES_171 ER/MB.indd 7978-79_BEHIND_THE_SCENES_171 ER/MB.indd 79 05/11/2014 11:1205/11/2014 11:12