A private collection of artwork and personal items that belonged to Victorian painter John Everett Millais (Southampton, 1829 - London, 1896) and his wife Effie Gray, a native of Perth, Scotland, will be made available to the Perth Art Gallery in Scotland through a long-term loan. The institution, managed by Culture Perth and Kinross, will house the collection of Sir Geoffroy Millais, great-grandson of the couple, which holds more than 300 pieces that have never been shown to the public for 30 years.
The holdings include more than 75 personal acquisitions made by Sir Geoffroy himself over a span of more than four decades, offering an in-depth and intimate look at the private and artistic lives of two central figures in British culture. Although Millais is universally recognized as one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the collection also chronicles the painter’s beginnings, including drawings made when he was still a child prodigy of only seven years old, as well as his early oil paintings.
“It seems appropriate that this collection finds its home in Perth, where my great-grandparents’ story began,” says Sir Geoffroy Millais. “Sharing these personal treasures with the public is a way to keep their legacy alive and offer new generations a chance to connect with their extraordinary lives and work.”
“We are honored to be the recipient of such an important and personal collection,” says Helen Smout, managing director of Culture Perth and Kinross. “This is not only a homecoming for Effie Gray, but a celebration of Millais’ enduring connection to Perthshire and a transformative moment for the cultural landscape of our region.”
Among the works on display are nineteen oil paintings, more than one hundred and fifty works on paper, personal letters, study tools such as brushes and palettes, as well as valuables that belonged to Effie Gray, including lace, jewelry and family heirlooms. The collection is notable for its wealth of personal materials, ranging from a plaster copy of a salmon caught by Millais in the River Tay, made by the local firm Malloch’s, to a porringer for her daughter Mary’s baptism, a gift from her spiritual father William Holman Hunt, also a member of the Pre-Raphaelite fraternity.
Beginning July 25, 2025, more than twenty-five selected pieces will be on public display free of charge in Perth Art Gallery’s Gallery 3, effectively the first exhibition in Scotland devoted to the collection. The exhibition entitled Millais in Perthshire will be alongside works already owned by the museum, including the 1865 paintings Waking (Just Awake) and the 1873 Portrait of Effie Millais. The display of the Millais collection represents a new phase for Perth Art Gallery, which was recently renovated following the opening of the new Perth Museum in March 2024. The exhibition represents a significant national cultural contribution to the city of Perth, which for the first time in more than two decades is seeing all exhibition spaces accessible to the public.
Euphemia “Effie” Chalmers Gray, belonged to the Gray family of Bowerswell. Her separation from noted art critic John Ruskin and subsequent marriage to Millais in 1855 generated a real scandal in the Victorian era. Her life inspired numerous literary, theatrical and film works. The couple celebrated their wedding in the drawing room at Bowerswell and later lived in nearby Annat Lodge. In addition to being their residence, Perthshire was also a creative haven. Millais returned there frequently to engage in fishing, hunting and especially painting, drawing inspiration from the landscapes, rivers and local inhabitants. His surroundings appear in many of his best-known works.
“Here, for a while, he enjoyed the peace and freedom he so much needed ... when the landscape appeared before him in all the glory of its autumnal hues, he could not resist the temptation to secure at least a few records of its beauty,” his son John Guille Millais later wrote.
Among the outstanding works in the new collection is the rarely exhibited oil painting Halcyon Weather (1892). The work was made near Newmiln House, in Stanley, Perthshire, during an autumn visit, a time of rest and reflection for the artist. Shortly after its completion, a fire devastated part of the house. The painting was saved thanks to the timely intervention of local residents, who threw the artwork and family possessions out the windows to safety. Halcyon Weather was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1892, accompanied by the quote taken from Henry VI, Part I “Wait for the summer of St. Martin’s, fair days.”
Additional highlights of the collection include a watercolor portrait of Effie dating from 1853, taken during her marriage to Ruskin and while they were traveling to Glenfinlas in the Trossachs, oil paintings of the portrait of Effie’s sister Sophia, as well as intimate portraits of their children Everett, George and Mary. The documents also include the Royal Academy diploma signed by Queen Victoria, the family Bible with handwritten entries, and folders containing transcriptions of letters. Overall, the core of materials constitutes one of the most comprehensive personal and artistic archives extant on a Pre-Raphaelite figure, representing one of the most important cultural acquisitions in recent years in Scotland.
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| A museum in Scotland displays more than 300 objects related to Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais |
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