Collection Online
Cecil Webb

Cecil Webb
1887

Medium
oil on canvas

Measurements
123.7 × 83.4 cm

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of the David Blanche family and Michael Blanche family in memory of Arthur and Yvonne Blanche through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2009

Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International

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About this work

The sitter here is Cecil Webb, son of a distinguished Australian lawyer and King’s Counsel, Thomas Prout Webb. Cecil died aged nine in March 1886 and as the portrait is signed and dated 1887, it is presumed to be posthumous. In the 1880s Millais focused increasingly on child portraiture after he found he could no longer reliably sell a history or genre painting, by far his prefered subject matter. Millais usually painted from photographs of his subjects and it seems likely that the Webb family supplied Millais with a studio portrait of their deceased son upon which Millais based his likeness.

Artwork Details

Place/s of Execution
London, England

Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.l.: y / m / 18 'Y' 87

Accession Number
2009.413

Department
International Painting

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited