Victorian art is often dismissed as an overly sentimental and cutesy style of painting, and nowhere are these qualities more apparent than in Bubbles by John Everett Millais. Painted in , Bubbles captures the innocence of childhood with all the technical mastery of a mature and talented artist.
But the painting also raises questions about the importance of serious subject matter, Victorian taste, and the relationship between art and advertising in the 19th century. He was very fond of his little grandson Willie James β a singularly beautiful and most winning child β and seeing him one day blowing soap bubbles through a pipe, he thought what a dainty picture he would make.
In the painting the angelic looking, red-cheeked young boy looks up at the floating bubbles, his blond curls creating a halo around his head. Seated in a dingy, non-descript background, he is dressed in a velvet suit with a ruffled lace collar, not the most practical clothing for a small boy. By the time this was painted in , Millais was one of the most prominent artists of the Victorian age.
His many pictures of beautiful children, in both contemporary and historical dress, masterfully capture the innocence of childhood. It is no wonder that Millais was a financially successful and sought after painter.
In December the magazine offered prints of the painting made by engraver Samuel Cousins, selling at least ,, with an estimated additional , people unable to obtain a copy. The incredible popularity of the image meant that according to J. From Australian miners, Canadian backwoodsmen, South African treckers,. Millais explained that Bubbles was purchased for The Illustrated London News by Sir William Ingram, and the artist expected it to be reproduced in a similarly commercial manner as Cherry Ripe.
