In this artwork, how is the Reception discussed?
Ruskin's elaborate praise of the painting emphasised Millais's increasing mastery of colour, which the critic compared to Titian. Other critics were less impressed. An opponent of the Pre-Raphaelites stated that the "coats, hats, trousers" all had more vitality than the people. Some of Millais's Pre-Raphaelite colleagues also disliked the picture. Critics were also befuddled as to the physical and apparent emotional closeness of the parents. "The agroupment [sic] of the two principle (sic) figures, although probable incident, is not easy. We first lost the extremities of the husband and have to look for them beyond the wife, and then the question arises as to what she is seated on--being upheld by a supposition that she occupies a mysterious space at the edge of the sofa." Upon further research it is possible that part of their closeness represents the closeness of Millais and Gray, as the painting and their first anniversary share the same date. There is evidence that this was not the first time that Millais has inserted his own personal life into one of his paintings.
Titian