Loading

John Everett Millais regarded The rescue (or ‘The Fireman’, as the artist himself usually referred to it) as one of his best paintings. As his submission to the Royal Academy exhibition in London in 1855, The rescue was a startlingly modern subject for Millais, who in 1848 had been a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Millais’s intention in executing this painting was, as he told his friend and fellow artist Arthur Hughes just before starting work on it, ‘to honour a set of men quietly doing a noble work – firemen’ (John Guille Millais, The life and letters of Sir John Everett Millais, Methuen, London, 1899, p. 248).

At the time Millais painted The rescue, fire was an ever-present danger and a major hazard of city life. The London Fire Engine Establishment was still a relatively new entity, having been formed only in 1833, by an amalgamation of numerous separate insurance company fire brigades (the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was not created until 1865). In 1834 a spectacular fire in the heart of London had struck Westminster Palace, burning down the old Houses of Parliament and highlighting the crucial role of the city’s fire-prevention services. Millais himself was personally acquainted with serving members of the London Fire Engine Establishment.

The artist’s son John Guille Millais noted of The rescue:

I heard him say that before he commenced the work he went to several big fires in London to study the true light effects. The captain of the fire brigade was a friend of his, and one evening, when Millais and Mike Halliday were dining with him, he said, after several alarms had been communicated, ‘Now, Millais, if you want to see a first-class blaze, come along.’ Rushing downstairs, the guests were speedily habited in firemen’s overalls and helmets, and, jumping into a cab, were soon on the scene of action. (John Guille Millais, The life and letters of Sir John Everett Millais, Methuen, London, 1899, p. 254-55).

Such first-hand encounters made Millais determined to capture with as much realism as possible his dramatic depiction of a fiery rescue.

Details

  • Title: The rescue
  • Creator: John Everett Millais
  • Creator Lifespan: 08 June 1829 - 13 August 1896
  • Creator Nationality: English
  • Creator Gender: Male
  • Creator Death Place: London, England
  • Creator Birth Place: Southampton, England
  • Date Created: 1855
  • Physical Dimensions: 121.5 x 83.6 cm (Unframed)
  • Type: Paintings
  • Rights: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Felton Bequest, 1924, © National Gallery of Victoria
  • External Link: National Gallery of Victoria
  • Medium: oil on canvas
  • Provenance: Purchased from the artist by Joseph Arden (1799–1879), 1855; his collection, Rickmansworth Park, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, until 1879; included in the late Joseph Arden sale, Christie's London, 26 April 1879, no. 68; from which purchased by Agnew's (dealer), London; collection of Holbrook Gaskell (1813–1909), Woolton Woods, Liverpool, c. 1879, until 1909; included in the late Holbrook Gaskell sale, Christie's London, 24 June 1909, no. 67; from which purchased by Agnew's, London; collection of Charles Fairfax Murray (1849–1919), London, by 1917; his sale, Christie's London, 14 December 1917, no. 59; from which purchased by Eugene Cremetti (dealer), London; with Cremetti/McLean Galleries, London, until 1923; included in the sale of stock held by Cremetti, Christie's London, 1 June 1923, no. 149; purchased by W. W. Sampson & Son (dealer), London, 1923; from whom acquired, on the advice of Frank Rinder, for the Felton Bequest, 1923; arrived Melbourne, 1924.
  • Additional information: The eminent critic John Ruskin singled out The rescue, from among all the works submitted to the 1855 Royal Academy exhibition, as ‘the only great picture exhibited this year; but this is very great. The immortal element is in it to the full’. Frank Rinder, who as Felton Adviser recommended the National Gallery of Victoria’s purchase of this picture, echoed Ruskin’s sentiments, writing back to Melbourne in 1923: The exquisitely visioned and painted mother, the genuinely romantic glimpse of buildings through the window, the subtle imaginatively just quality of the draughtsmanship throughout, are essential declarations of the great artist Millais was in 1855.

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Flash this QR Code to get the app
Google apps