''Autumn Leaves'' (1856) is a painting by

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...

exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in 1856. It was described by the critic

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

as "the first instance of a perfectly painted twilight." Millais's wife Effie wrote that he had intended to create a picture that was "full of beauty and without a subject". The picture depicts four girls in the twilight collecting and raking together fallen leaves in a garden, a location now occupied by Rodney Gardens in

Perth, Scotland Perth (Scottish English, locally: ; gd, Peairt ) is a city in central Scotland, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population o ...

. They are making a bonfire, but the fire itself is invisible, only smoke emerging from between the leaves. The two girls on the left, modelled on Millais's sisters-in-law Alice and

Sophie Gray Sophia Margaret "Sophie" Gray (28 October 1843 – 15 March 1882), later Sophia Margaret Caird, was a Scottish model for her brother-in-law, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. She was a younger sister of Euphemia "Effie" Gray, w ...

, are portrayed in middle-class clothing of the era; the two on the right are in rougher, working class clothing. The painting has been seen as one of the earliest influences on the development of the

aesthetic movement Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be pro ...

. A sculpture in Rodney Gardens, known as "Millais Viewpoint", recreates the view through two lower corners of a picture frame, made of stone.

Interpretations

The painting has typically been interpreted as a representation of the transience of youth and beauty, a common theme in Millais's art. Malcolm Warner argues that Millais was influenced by the poetry of

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

, at whose house he had once helped to rake together autumn leaves. Warner suggests that lines from Tennyson's song "

Tears, Idle Tears "Tears, Idle Tears" is a lyric poem written in 1847 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), the Victorian-era English poet. Published as one of the "songs" in his ''The Princess'' (1847), it is regarded for the quality of its lyrics. A Tennyso ...

" in ''The Princess'' (1847) may have influenced him: :Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean.
:Tears from the depth of some divine despair
:Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
:In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
:And thinking on the days that are no more. The apple held by the youngest girl at the right may allude to the loss of childhood innocence implied by reference to

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 ...

and the expulsion from the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan- Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2-3 and Ezekiel 28 ...

. After a positive review from F.G. Stephens, Millais wrote to him that he had "intended the picture to awaken by its solemnity the deepest religious reflection. I chose the subject of burning leaves as most calculated to produce this feeling."National Gallery of Art, Washington, ''The Victorians: British Painting 1837-1901'', p.73, 1997

''Millais Viewpoint''

File:Millais Viewpoint - geograph.org.uk - 128570.jpg, ''Millais Viewpoint'' sculpture, Rodney Gardens, Perth

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Autumn Leaves (Painting) Paintings by John Everett Millais 1856 paintings Collection of Manchester Art Gallery Paintings of children

Interpretations

''Millais Viewpoint''

See also

Notes