John Everett MillaisVerenigd Koninkrijk, 1829–1896The North-West Passage
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National Gallery
Londen, Verenigd Koninkrijk
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Over het schilderij
The North-West Passage is an 1874 painting by John Everett Millais. It depicts an elderly sailor sitting in an 18th-century armchair at a desk, with his daughter seated in a stool beside him. He stares out at the viewer, while she reads from a log-book. On the desk is a large chart depicting complex passageways between incompletely charted arctic islands.
Outside the window on the left, on sea, is a boat sailing to the left; on the wall over the desk is a painting of a ship trapped in ice, its bow pointing to the right. On the wall behind the seaman, right over his head, is an etching, depicting a young naval officer.
Verder lezen
Millais exhibited the painting with the subtitle "It might be done and England should do it", a line imagined to be spoken by the aged sailor. The title and subtitle refer to the repeated failure of British expeditions to find the Northwest Passage, a navigable passageway around the north of the American continent. These expeditions "became synonymous with failure, adversity and death, with men and ships battling against hopeless odds in a frozen wilderness."
Gegevens
- Inventarisnummer
- NG1509
In de catalogus
Bronnen
- Wikidata
- Afbeelding: National Gallery — John Everett Millais · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
