The title of my new book comes from this riverscape by Sir John Everett Millais. It was painted near Dunkeld, Perthshire in 1876. Millais, the leading English painter of his day, has many connections to the Tay not least through the pre-eminent Victorian art critic John Ruskin. Ruskin was a champion of his art.
Ruskin’s family had lived at Bowerswell House overlooking the Tay in Perth, later it was owned by the family of Effie Gray. Ruskin and Gray married in 1848.
Ruskin had invited the Pre-Raphaelite painter from London to holiday with him and Effie in Scotland. Though painted later there are suggestions of autobiography in the picture. Against the background of the Ruskin’s unconsummated marriage the wild torrent of the upland river roars over the twisted geology of the petrified Highland rocks. As the season changes among the riverside trees the raging passions alter in the trio’s relationship. Millais and Gray fell in love. After the Ruskin’s marriage was annulled they married, Effie giving birth to eight children.
The upland river cascading over rocks, in the eagle above can you see the painting’s composition reflected in the cover of the book?
‘The Sound of Many Waters’ 1876 by John Everett Millais (1829-1896)
National Trust for Scotland, Fyvie Castle
Robin A Crawford 