12th May 2022 by Frances
Thomas Brock
Walking in…
Thomas Brock ‘John Everett Millais’ 1904, bronze (detail).
Thomas Brock ‘John Everett Millais’ 1904, unveiled 1905, bronze, John Islip Street, SW1.
This early 20th century commemorative statue of a quintessential and popular 19th century British painter, stands at the corner of Tate Britain.
In 1840 Millais aged 11, went to the Royal Academy Schools, the youngest student ever. In 1848, aged 19, he became one of the founder members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Many of his Pre-Raphaelite paintings are in Tate collection and on permanent display here.
Brock had actually known Millais though their relationship was described as ‘not cordial’. Brock’s son claimed that a last minute reconciliation took place on Millais’s deathbed. Brock’s depiction of Millais, with his palette and brush in hand, was described at the time as ‘a breezy statue… representing the man in the characteristic attitude in which we all knew him.’
Tate Director, Norman Reid took a modern stance and asked for the statue to be removed because Millais represented ‘a Victorian attitude which we by no means find sympathetic.’ Westminster City Council defended it, and in 1998, as a compromise it was moved from the river front entrance to the rear of the building.
The sculpture can be found on the Violet Walk between number 4, Chelsea College of Art and number 5, Tate Britain.
