The Proscribed Royalist, 1651 [SEP] creator
The Proscribed Royalist, 1651
The Proscribed Royalist, 1651 (1852–53) is a painting by John Everett Millais which depicts a young Puritan woman protecting a fleeing Royalist after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, the decisive defeat of Charles II by Oliver Cromwell. The Royalist is hiding in a hollow tree, a reference to a famous incident in which Charles himself hid in a tree to escape from his pursuers. Millais was also influenced by Vincenzo Bellini's opera "I Puritani".
His friend and fellow painter, Arthur
showing the order to a guard, while her husband embraces her.
The "Illustrated London News" reviewed the painting as follows:
The dark, generalised background is a departure from the highly detailed backgrounds of earlier works such as "Ophelia", as is the emphatic chiaroscuro. However, the portrayal of tense relationships disrupted by historical dramas was a continuation of the theme of "A Huguenot" and "The Proscribed Royalist, 1651".
While working on the painting, Millais fell in love with Effie,