Mulcahy Conway Associates

The Model Wife: Effie, Ruskin And Millais

Effie Gray, a renowned beauty and socialite, was at the centre of Victorian England's most scandalous love triangle, involving two giants of the art world. Married at nineteen to the much older John Ruskin, the leading art critic of the time, she found herself trapped in a loveless and unconsummated union with a husband who was to claim that 'her person was not formed to excite passion'. Then, on a trip to Scotland during which John Everett Millais, Ruskin's acclaimed protégé, was supposed to paint her husband's portrait, she and Millais fell in love. This was to result in public disgrace, but also in a long and happy second marriage. Suzanne Fagence Cooper has gained exclusive access to Effie's extensive and previously unseen letters and diaries to reveal the reality behind this great Victorian love story. A major critical reassessment of the Victorian art world, the book addresses the careers of Ruskin and Millais from a new angle, with Effie emerging as a key figure in the artistic development of both men. Effie, her sisters and daughters appear in many of Millais most haunting images, embodying Victorian society's fears about female sexuality and freedom. 'The Model Wife' is a compelling portrait of the extraordinary woman behind some of the most beautiful and celebrated pre-Raphaelite paintings.

Reviews

absorbing as a potboiler without ever compromising its scholarly credentials... This is an exceptional book about an exceptional trio and the exceptional families that formed them.

The Scotsman

The relationship between Effie and Millais was loving, but their marriage was also a working partnership, and Cooper's brisk and appreciative account give a clear sense of the distribution of labour between husband and wife. Although Effie had no formal career, her work as a hostess and domestic manager was onerous, and entirely necessary to the family's security. Millais's paintings, and surviving photographs, show her to have been unusually pretty, but they do not reflect the vitality that made her special.

Dinah Birch, TLS, 4th March 2011

Cooper was given unfettered access to a huge trove of letters...the first scholar to receive this privilege. The result is a lively and highly readable triple biography of these figures, the first one to focus on the woman at the center of this triangle...it succeeds admirably and it is a pleasure to read'

Laura Fargas, The Washington Independent Review of Books, September 2011

As might be expected from a book about one of the greatest artistic love triangles of the 19th century, there is quite a lot of naked beauty on display....The mature Effie...is dangerously contemporary....Buoyed up by a treasure-trove of unpublished letters and journals, Ms Cooper has no trouble in establishing the liveliness of her subject's personality, her centrality to Millais's paintings and her resourcefulness when ganged up on by the Ruskins.

The Wall Street Journal, 17th June 2011

Cooper, a distinguished art historian and an authority on Victorians, never bores. If occassionally her enthusiasm or her subject steers her in the direction of the historical novel, what might appear to be the result of a romantic imagination is borne out by very thorough research...I cannot recomment Suzanne Fagence Cooper's biography more highly to anyone with a heart, a liking for a good read and an interest in things Victorian.

Henrietta Garnett, Literary Review, December 2010

Suzanne Fagence Cooper's meticulously researched and yet touchingly personal memoir of Effie Gray is a joy to read. We know so much about Ruskin and Millais - so little about the most influential woman in their lives. Miserably married to the first and triumphantly to the second, Effie's story is emblematic of the struggle of Victorian women who had to survive without the outlets, opportunities or rights that were afforded to men. Her trail-blazing life makes a wonderful, rich book.

Emma Thompson