The Wedding Cards
| The Wedding Cards | |
|---|---|
| Artist | John Everett Millais |
| Year | 1854 |
| Type | Oil on panel |
| Dimensions | 22.2 cm × 16.5 cm (8.7 in × 6.5 in) |
| Location | Private collection |
The Wedding Cards or Wedding Cards: Jilted is an 1854 oil painting by the English artist John Everett Millais. It shows a woman holding a card in one hand and the envelope in the other, which she rests against her chest. It is a small, intimate painting of a woman against a dark background, like many of the paintings Millais produced in 1854.
The painting
The painting references the Victorian habit of newly-wed couples sending out "wedding cards", to announce that they were "at home" to receive congratulatory visits from friends.[1] Christopher Newall writes of the pose: "...her ringless left hand symbolically clasped to her heart, together with her sad expression, suggest all is not well."[1]
The painting was first exhibited at the Liverpool Academy of Arts in 1854. It was bought by John Miller, a Liverpool-based Scottish collector of Pre-Raphaelite works, and in 1857 Miller lent it to the exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite art in Russell Place in London.[1] In 1858 The Wedding Cards was included in the sale of Miller's art collection.[1] In 1862 it was included in a sale of the collection of Thomas Plint, who had died the year before, where it sold for 120 guineas.[2]
The picture has changed hands at least eleven times since it was painted. London West End art dealer Thomas Agnew & Sons has bought the painting four times: twice in the 1800s and twice in the 1900s.[3]
The painting was sold by Christie's on 6 June 1958 for 280 guineas.[3] It was sold again by Christie's in London on 5 June 2008 (Lot 47),[4] on behalf of the estate of Lord Blackford (Keith Alexander Henry Mason, 3rd Baron Blackford), who died in April 1977.[3] It is now in a private collection.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Newall, Christopher; Bukantas, Ann (2016). Pre-Raphaelites: Beauty and Rebellion. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool: National Museums Liverpool and Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-78138-303-2. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
- ^ Roberts, William (1897). Memorials of Christie's: A Record of Art Sales from 1766 to 1896, Volume 1. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 197. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
- ^ a b c "Millais painting set to reach £500k at auction". Southern Daily Echo. 16 May 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
- ^ "Property from the Collection of the Late Sir Colin and Lady Anderson. Sir John Everett Millais, P.R.A. (1829-1896). The Violet's Message". London: Christie's. Retrieved 14 December 2025.