Thomas Edward Plint, was a stockbroker and important Pre-Raphaelite art collector who commissioned and owned several notable paintings. In 1839, with his friend Charles Reed, he started and edited a magazine called The Leeds Repository,

A religious evangelical, Plint served as a lay preacher at Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

 Congregational Chapel. In 1852, he commissioned Ford Madox Brown

Ford Madox Brown

Ford Madox Brown was an English painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painting was Work...

 to complete "Work

Work (painting)

Work is a painting by Ford Madox Brown, which is generally considered to be his most important achievement. It attempts to portray, both literally and analytically, the totality of the Victorian social system and the transition from a rural to an urban economy...

," a celebration of the protestant work ethic

Protestant work ethic

The Protestant work ethic is a concept in sociology, economics and history, attributable to the work of Max Weber...

. He demanded changes to the composition, notably the inclusion of a distributor of evangelical tracts, but died before its completion

He was at one time owner of The Black Brunswicker, which he purchased from Ernest Gambart

Ernest Gambart

Jean Joseph Ernest Theodore Gambart was a Belgian-born English art publisher and dealer who dominated the London art world in the middle of the nineteenth century.-Life and career:...

. other paintings in his collection included Millais's

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:...

 Christ in the House of His Parents

Christ in the House of His Parents

Christ in the House of His Parents is a painting by John Everett Millais depicting the Holy Family in Saint Joseph's carpentry workshop. The painting was extremely controversial when first exhibited, prompting many negative reviews, most notably one written by Charles Dickens...

.