Sophy Gray (Pre-Raphaelite muse)
Encyclopedia
Sophia Margaret Gray (October 1843-15 March 1882), later Sophy Caird, was a Scottish
-born model for her brother-in-law, the pre-Raphaelite painter, John Everett Millais
. She was the younger sister of Euphemia (Effie) Gray
, who married Millais in 1855 after the annulment of her marriage to John Ruskin
.
The family lived at Bowerswell, a house near the Scottish city of Perth
that was re-built in 1842. As a child Sophy frequently visited Effie, who lived in London
after her marriage in 1848 to the critic and artist John Ruskin. To an extent Effie, who was fifteen years older, acted as Sophy’s "second mother", while Sophy, at a very young age, was exposed to the increasingly strained circumstances of the Ruskins’ unconsummated marriage.
, and appears to have been complicit in her sister’s flight. She and Effie boarded a train for Edinburgh
at the new King’s Cross station, but Sophy alighted at Hitchin
, Hertfordshire
where her parents were waiting. Mrs Gray took her place on the train, while Sophy and her father returned to London to deliver a package from Effie to her solicitors. That evening a citation of nullity
was delivered to Ruskin, together with certain effects such as Effie’s wedding ring and her keys.
Effie was granted a decree of nullity on 20 July 1854. The previous summer, she, Ruskin and his protégé, John Millais, had spent four months together in the Scottish Highlands
, during which time she and Millais formed a close and increasingly intimate bond. In early 1854, Millais painted a portrait of Sophy for her parents. Through her regular visits to his studio in Gower Street
, London, where she impressed Millais by her patience, Sophy was able to act a go-between with Effie. During this period, Ruskin’s mother (to whom her son was very close) appears to have indulged Sophy, while, at the same time, casting aspersions on Effie, who was under very considerable stress.
After the annulment of her marriage, Effie avoided Millais for some time, but eventually invited him to Bowerswell, where they were married in June 1855.
(1855-6), Spring (or Apple Blossom) (1856-9) and, most strikingly, in an "unnerving" portrait of her at the age of 13, entitled Portrait of a Girl, or simply Sophy Gray (1857). Charles Edward Perugini
also painted a portrait of Sophy as a young woman; the date is not known with certainty and for some years it was attributed mistakenly to Millais.
, who researched the lives of Effie, Ruskin and Millais, it was rumoured that Effie had to send Sophy away because of concerns that she and Millais were growing too close, but there is no clear evidence of a more intimate relationship between them. Sophy’s parents were content for Millais to chaperone her – for example, on an overnight train to London – and, whatever the truth of any rumour, Effie remained close to her sister and often invited her to stay after she and Millais moved back to London in 1861.
Unlike Millais’ 1854 portrait of Sophy, his later work was not kept by the family. It was sold to George Price Boyce
, a friend of Millais’ pre-Raphaelite "brother", Dante Gabriel Rossetti
, who painted a portrait of Fanny Cornforth
, both his own and Boyce's lover, to hang alongside that of Sophy. Entitled Bocca Baciata
("the mouth that has been kissed") after a theme in Boccacio’s Decameron, Rossetti’s picture (1859) was described by William Holman Hunt
, another member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, as "remarkable for gross sensuality of a revolting kind ... I see Rossetti as advocating as a principle the mere gratification of the eye". As Cooper has remarked, this "after-life" of Sophy Gray demonstrated its "erotic potential".
. She also became extremely restless and obsessed with music, especially piano playing. Her speech was often incoherent. In March 1869 Millais wrote to William Holman Hunt that Sophy had "been ill a whole year, and away from home, with hysteria".
At the request of the Grays, Millais placed Sophy at Manor Farm House, Chiswick
under the care of Dr. Thomas Harrington Tuke (1826-88), a leading practitioner in lunacy
. Tuke had treated Millais' friend, the painter Edwin Landseer, and, a year or so after Sophy came to him, was involved in the case of Harriet Mordaunt
, respondent in a scandalous divorce action. Sophy lived with the family of one of Tuke’s colleagues until she was well enough to move to lodgings in Hammersmith
in 1869 and then back to Bowerswell. Although the state of her health fluctuated, it was to remain a problem for her and a concern to others for the rest of her life.
(1837-1916), a Dundee
jute
manufacturer who had courted her for several years. Caird was disliked by her family, who thought him two-faced and were still mindful of Effie's disastrous marriage to Ruskin. However, attempts to dissuade Sophy from going ahead with the wedding were muted by fears of triggering a further collapse of her health.
The Cairds' only child, Beatrix Ada, was born in 1874. The father was notably absent during Sophy’s confinement, thereby intensifying bad feeling with her family. In 1875 he forbade Sophy from staying with Effie on her way to France and, generally, at a time when his business was expanding, he seems to have been both inconsiderate and uncaring towards her.
. In 1880 Millais painted a final portrait of her, which was exhibited at the new Grosvenor Gallery
. Mary Lutyens wrote of it that Millais "perhaps more than anyone, knew the secrets of Sophie's [sic] short life, and in her hauntingly sad expression portrayed an old sadness of his own."
By then Sophy had become increasingly emaciated (the effects largely hidden from others by the weight of late Victorian clothing) and in 1882 returned to the care of Tuke. She died on 15 March 1882, aged 38. Tuke gave the cause of death as exhaustion and "atrophy of nervous system, 17 years".
Sophy's daughter, Beatrix Caird, who Millais painted in 1879, died in 1888. James Caird subsequently used his wealth to support Ernest Shackleton
's Trans-Antarctic expedition
of 1914-17 and was a significant benefactor to the city of Dundee. He became a baronet
in 1913.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
-born model for her brother-in-law, the pre-Raphaelite painter, John Everett Millais
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
. She was the younger sister of Euphemia (Effie) Gray
Effie Gray
Euphemia Chalmers Millais, Lady Millais née Gray, known as Effie Gray, Effie Ruskin or Effie Millais was the wife of the critic John Ruskin, but left her husband without the marriage being consummated, and after the annulment of the marriage, married his protégé, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John...
, who married Millais in 1855 after the annulment of her marriage to John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
.
Background
Sophy Gray was born in October 1843. Her parents were George Gray (1798–1877), a Scottish businessman, and Sophia Margaret Gray, née Jameson (1808–1894). Sophy was the tenth of fifteen children, although five, including three daughters, pre-deceased her. Two of her three elder brothers alive in 1843 died before she was seven. Effie (1828–1897) was the eldest child. The Grays’ second daughter, also named Sophia Margaret, died aged six in 1841.The family lived at Bowerswell, a house near the Scottish city of Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located 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...
that was re-built in 1842. As a child Sophy frequently visited Effie, who lived in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
after her marriage in 1848 to the critic and artist John Ruskin. To an extent Effie, who was fifteen years older, acted as Sophy’s "second mother", while Sophy, at a very young age, was exposed to the increasingly strained circumstances of the Ruskins’ unconsummated marriage.
Effie Gray’s flight from Ruskin and marriage to Millais
On 25 April 1854 Effie left her husband on the pretence of visiting her parents in Scotland. Sophy was staying with the Ruskins at the time, at their home in Herne HillHerne Hill
Herne Hill is located in the London Borough of Lambeth and the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London. There is a road of the same name which continues the A215 north of Norwood Road and was called Herne Hill Road.-History:...
, and appears to have been complicit in her sister’s flight. She and Effie boarded a train for Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
at the new King’s Cross station, but Sophy alighted at Hitchin
Hitchin
Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
where her parents were waiting. Mrs Gray took her place on the train, while Sophy and her father returned to London to deliver a package from Effie to her solicitors. That evening a citation of nullity
Nullity (conflict)
In conflict of laws, the issue of nullity in Family Law inspires a wide response among the laws of different states as to the circumstances in which a marriage will be valid, invalid or null...
was delivered to Ruskin, together with certain effects such as Effie’s wedding ring and her keys.
Effie was granted a decree of nullity on 20 July 1854. The previous summer, she, Ruskin and his protégé, John Millais, had spent four months together in the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
, during which time she and Millais formed a close and increasingly intimate bond. In early 1854, Millais painted a portrait of Sophy for her parents. Through her regular visits to his studio in Gower Street
Gower Street (London)
Gower Street is a street in Bloomsbury, Central London, England, running between Euston Road to the north and Montague Place to the south.North Gower Street is a separate street running north of the Euston Road...
, London, where she impressed Millais by her patience, Sophy was able to act a go-between with Effie. During this period, Ruskin’s mother (to whom her son was very close) appears to have indulged Sophy, while, at the same time, casting aspersions on Effie, who was under very considerable stress.
After the annulment of her marriage, Effie avoided Millais for some time, but eventually invited him to Bowerswell, where they were married in June 1855.
Sophy as muse
For the next few years Sophy continued to sit for Millais. After he and Effie moved to Annat Lodge, close to Bowerswell, she was readily available for this purpose, but it seems also that she was beginning to displace Effie herself as a favoured subject. In the words of art historian Suzanne Fagence Cooper, whose biographical chapter about Sophy (2010) provides the fullest account of her life, Sophy "changes before our eyes from a child to a stunning teenager". This change can be traced in three works by Millais: Autumn LeavesAutumn Leaves (painting)
Autumn Leaves is a painting by John Everett Millais exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856. It was described by the critic John Ruskin 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...
(1855-6), Spring (or Apple Blossom) (1856-9) and, most strikingly, in an "unnerving" portrait of her at the age of 13, entitled Portrait of a Girl, or simply Sophy Gray (1857). Charles Edward Perugini
Charles Edward Perugini
Charles Edward Perugini , originally Carlo Perugini, was an Italian-born English painter of the Victorian era....
also painted a portrait of Sophy as a young woman; the date is not known with certainty and for some years it was attributed mistakenly to Millais.
Autumn Leaves and Spring
In Autumn Leaves, Sophy is one of four young girls beside a smoking bonfire of leaves. Her younger sister Alice (1845–1929) was also in this picture, together with two local girls procured by Effie. Spring is in some ways a complementary work. Eight girls (whose ages ranged from 12 to 15) recline in an orchard. Sophy is depicted in profile, wearing a colourful, striped robe, with long flowing hair, while Alice lies a little provocatively with a blade of grass in her mouth.Sophy Gray and Sophy’s relationship with Millais
Sophy Gray is a very sensual, "knowing" and direct image, which, almost inevitably, has provoked questions about the nature of Millais’ relationship with his sister-in-law. There was undoubtedly a strong affection between them, which may well have grown into mutual infatuation. According to Mary LutyensMary Lutyens
Edith Mary Lutyens was a British author who is principally known for her authoritative biographical works on the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti.-Early life:...
, who researched the lives of Effie, Ruskin and Millais, it was rumoured that Effie had to send Sophy away because of concerns that she and Millais were growing too close, but there is no clear evidence of a more intimate relationship between them. Sophy’s parents were content for Millais to chaperone her – for example, on an overnight train to London – and, whatever the truth of any rumour, Effie remained close to her sister and often invited her to stay after she and Millais moved back to London in 1861.
Unlike Millais’ 1854 portrait of Sophy, his later work was not kept by the family. It was sold to George Price Boyce
George Price Boyce
George Price Boyce was a British watercolour painter of landscapes and vernacular architecture in the Pre-Raphaelite style. He was a patron and friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti....
, a friend of Millais’ pre-Raphaelite "brother", Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
, who painted a portrait of Fanny Cornforth
Fanny Cornforth
Fanny Cornforth was an English maidservant who became a model and mistress to Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
, both his own and Boyce's lover, to hang alongside that of Sophy. Entitled Bocca Baciata
Bocca Baciata
Bocca Baciata is a painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti which represents a turning point in his career. It was the first of his pictures of single female figures, and established the style that was later to become a signature of his work...
("the mouth that has been kissed") after a theme in Boccacio’s Decameron, Rossetti’s picture (1859) was described by William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt OM was an English painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Biography:...
, another member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, as "remarkable for gross sensuality of a revolting kind ... I see Rossetti as advocating as a principle the mere gratification of the eye". As Cooper has remarked, this "after-life" of Sophy Gray demonstrated its "erotic potential".
Mental illness and marriage
In 1868 Sophy became very unwell. It is clear from letters at the time that she was suffering from anorexia nervosaAnorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
. She also became extremely restless and obsessed with music, especially piano playing. Her speech was often incoherent. In March 1869 Millais wrote to William Holman Hunt that Sophy had "been ill a whole year, and away from home, with hysteria".
At the request of the Grays, Millais placed Sophy at Manor Farm House, Chiswick
Chiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
under the care of Dr. Thomas Harrington Tuke (1826-88), a leading practitioner in lunacy
Lunatic
"Lunatic" is a commonly used term for a person who is mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, unpredictable; a condition once called lunacy. The word derives from lunaticus meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck".-Lunar hypothesis:...
. Tuke had treated Millais' friend, the painter Edwin Landseer, and, a year or so after Sophy came to him, was involved in the case of Harriet Mordaunt
Harriet Mordaunt
Harriet Sarah, Lady Mordaunt , formerly Harriet Moncreiffe, was the Scottish wife of an English baronet and Member of Parliament, Sir Charles Mordaunt...
, respondent in a scandalous divorce action. Sophy lived with the family of one of Tuke’s colleagues until she was well enough to move to lodgings in Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
in 1869 and then back to Bowerswell. Although the state of her health fluctuated, it was to remain a problem for her and a concern to others for the rest of her life.
Marriage to James Caird
On 16 July 1873 Sophy married James Key CairdJames Key Caird
Sir James Key Caird, 1st Baronet was a Scottish jute baron and mathematician. He was one of the city's most successful entrepreneurs, who used the latest technology in his Ashton and Craigie Mills. James Caird was born in Dundee, and was the son of Edward Caird who had founded the firm of Caird ...
(1837-1916), a Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
jute
Jute
Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....
manufacturer who had courted her for several years. Caird was disliked by her family, who thought him two-faced and were still mindful of Effie's disastrous marriage to Ruskin. However, attempts to dissuade Sophy from going ahead with the wedding were muted by fears of triggering a further collapse of her health.
The Cairds' only child, Beatrix Ada, was born in 1874. The father was notably absent during Sophy’s confinement, thereby intensifying bad feeling with her family. In 1875 he forbade Sophy from staying with Effie on her way to France and, generally, at a time when his business was expanding, he seems to have been both inconsiderate and uncaring towards her.
Final years
During her final years, Sophy spent much of her time alone with Beatrix, mostly living between Dundee and ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. In 1880 Millais painted a final portrait of her, which was exhibited at the new Grosvenor Gallery
Grosvenor Gallery
The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé...
. Mary Lutyens wrote of it that Millais "perhaps more than anyone, knew the secrets of Sophie's [sic] short life, and in her hauntingly sad expression portrayed an old sadness of his own."
By then Sophy had become increasingly emaciated (the effects largely hidden from others by the weight of late Victorian clothing) and in 1882 returned to the care of Tuke. She died on 15 March 1882, aged 38. Tuke gave the cause of death as exhaustion and "atrophy of nervous system, 17 years".
Sophy's daughter, Beatrix Caird, who Millais painted in 1879, died in 1888. James Caird subsequently used his wealth to support Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
's Trans-Antarctic expedition
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...
of 1914-17 and was a significant benefactor to the city of Dundee. He became a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1913.