Oil paint on canvas
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-john-everett-millais-bt-379" aria-label="More by Sir John Everett Millais, Bt" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir John Everett Millais, Bt</a>
Order Release 1746
Presented by Sir Henry Tate 1898
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
animals: mammals
architecture
birth to death
children
cloak
clothing and personal items
crime and punishment
dog - non-specific
domestic
door
family
father
features
girl
government and politics
greeting
Grey, Euphemia ‘Effie’
group
groups
history
holding hands
individuals: female
interiors
key
kilt
leisure and pastimes
letter
man
medical
military
named individuals
nationality
objects
people
pipe
plants and flowers
political prisoner
politics and society
politics: Jacobites, c.1688-1745
portraits
primrose
prison
prisoner
public and municipal
reading
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
Scottish
sleeping
sling
society
soldier
standing
supporting
symbols and personifications
uniform / kit
woman
work and occupations
youth - primrose
<p>This picture shows the release of a Jacobite soldier, imprisoned by the English after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army at the battle of Culloden in 1746. The Jacobite’s wife hands an order of release to the gaoler.Millais based the figure of the woman on his wife, Effie. He was very interested in female psychology and the woman’s detached gaze suggests her quiet determination.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
24 October 2001 – 11 July 2005
2005-07-11
24 October 2001
2001-10-24
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-24
Making British History
Collection based display
1 August 2005 – 30 July 2007
2007-07-30
1 August 2005
2005-08-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-08-01
The Pre-Raphaelites
Collection based display
10 August 2007 – 4 October 2010
2010-10-04
10 August 2007 – 4 October 2010
2010-10-04
2007-08-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2007-08-10
Pre-Raphaelites and Painters of the Ideal
Collection based display
26 September 2007 – 26 October 2008
2008-10-26
26 September 2007 – 13 January 2008
2008-01-13
2007-09-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
15 February 2008 – 18 May 2008
2008-05-18
2008-02-15
Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/
7 June 2008 – 17 August 2008
2008-08-17
2008-06-07
Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (Kitakyushu-City, Japan)
30 August 2008 – 26 October 2008
2008-10-26
2008-08-30
Bunkamura Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)
2007-09-26
Millais
Exhibition
15 February 2008 – 26 October 2008
2008-10-26
15 February 2008 – 18 May 2008
2008-05-18
2008-02-15
Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/
7 June 2008 – 17 August 2008
2008-08-17
2008-06-07
Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (Kitakyushu-City, Japan)
30 August 2008 – 26 October 2008
2008-10-26
2008-08-30
Bunkamura Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)
2008-02-15
Millais
Loan-out
12 September 2012 – 31 January 2014
2014-01-31
12 September 2012 – 13 January 2013
2013-01-13
2012-09-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
17 February 2013 – 19 May 2013
2013-05-19
2013-02-17
National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA)
10 June 2013 – 22 September 2013
2013-09-22
2013-06-10
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
25 January 2014 – 6 April 2014
2014-04-06
2014-01-25
Mori Arts Centre (Tokyo, Japan)
19 April 2014 – 13 July 2014
2014-07-13
2014-04-19
Palazzo Chiablese (Turin, Italy)
2012-09-12
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde
Exhibition
17 February 2013 – 31 August 2014
2014-08-31
17 February 2013 – 19 May 2013
2013-05-19
2013-02-17
National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA)
10 June 2013 – 13 October 2013
2013-10-13
2013-06-10
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
25 January 2014 – 6 April 2014
2014-04-06
2014-01-25
Mori Arts Centre (Tokyo, Japan)
19 April 2014 – 13 July 2014
2014-07-13
2014-04-19
Palazzo Chiablese (Turin, Italy)
2013-02-17
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde
Loan-out
10 October 2014 – 1 November 2015
2015-11-01
10 October 2014 – 1 November 2015
2015-11-01
2014-10-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-10-10
Poor Man's Picture Gallery
Collection based display
14 December 2018 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
14 December 2018 – 28 April 2019
2019-04-28
2018-12-14
National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia)
13 May 2021 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
2021-05-13
Hungarian National Gallery (Budapest, Hungary)
2018-12-14
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Tate partnerships & programmes
17 October 2019 – 26 January 2020
2020-01-26
1 October 2019 – 31 January 2020
2020-01-31
2019-10-01
National Portrait Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.npg.org.uk
2019-10-17
Pre-Raphaelite Sisters
Loan-out
The Order of Release 1746
support: 1029 × 737 mm
frame: 1505 × 1210 × 125 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999962" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Sir Henry Tate</a> 1898
<p>Bonnie Prince Charlie (1720-1788) was defeated by the English at Culloden on 16 April 1746 and many of his supporters were imprisoned. The subject of this picture is the release of one of these Jacobite rebels from prison. Millais appears to have invented the incident, but may also have been inspired by the novels of Sir Walter Scott, which provided a wealth material for artists and illustrators in the second half of the 19<sup>th</sup> Century. The rebel's wife, supporting their small child and comforting her exhausted, wounded husband, hands an order of release to the gaoler.  The expression on her face is inscrutable.  She appears strangely detached from the action, and the suggestion is that she may have been forced to sacrifice her virtue in order to save her husband.  The picture's original title was <i>The Ransom</i> and early sketches reveal that Millais originally showed a purse of money being handed over.  However, in the finished work he substitutes the order of release which gives the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> its current title. The signature on the document is clearly visible as that of Sir Hilgrove Turner, who encouraged Millais's artistic talent from an early age.

</p><p>Following the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/pre-raphaelite" title="Glossary definition for 'Pre-Raphaelite'"><span>Pre-Raphaelite</span></a> credo of truth to nature, Millais painted the picture in intricate detail and went to great pains to make the scene authentic. For the tartans he consulted Robert McIan's <i>Highland Clans</i>.  The Jacobite wears the Gordon tartan and the little girl the Drummond, presumably the mother's clan. The only indication of a setting is provided by the prison door.  The faded primroses which have fallen from the child's hands indicate the time of year, and also symbolise her youth.  Millais used a professional model called Westall for the father and his future wife, Effie Ruskin (with her hair darkened) for the woman. He had tremendous problems with the child, who, according to Millais, 'seemed so obstinate that she would not do anything I wanted, and when forced, by Westall's superior strength, squalled and foamed at the mouth'(quoted in Parris, p.108).   

</p><p>Millais sold the picture to the lawyer Joseph Arden for £400. When it was exhibited at the Royal <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/academy" title="Glossary definition for 'Academy'"><span>Academy</span></a> in 1853 it proved so popular that a policeman had to be installed in front of the picture to move the spectators on. The<i> Illustrated London News</i> reported that Millais had attracted 'a larger crowd of admirers in his little cornerthan all the Academicians put together' (7 May 1853).

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Leslie Parris (ed.), <i>The Pre-Raphaelites</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1984; reprinted 1994, pp.108-10, reproduced p.109, in colour.<br/>Elizabeth Prettejohn, <i>The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites</i>, London 2000, p.238, reproduced p.238, in colour.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>This picture shows the release of a Jacobite soldier, imprisoned by the English after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army at the battle of Culloden in 1746. The Jacobite’s wife hands an order of release to the gaoler.Millais based the figure of the woman on his wife, Effie. He was very interested in female psychology and the woman’s detached gaze suggests her quiet determination.</p>

Display caption
2007-07-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults animals: mammals architecture birth to death children cloak clothing and personal items crime and punishment dog - non-specific domestic door family father features girl government and politics greeting Grey, Euphemia ‘Effie’ group groups history holding hands individuals: female interiors key kilt leisure and pastimes letter man medical military named individuals nationality objects people pipe plants and flowers political prisoner politics and society politics: Jacobites, c.1688-1745 portraits primrose prison prisoner public and municipal reading reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities Scottish sleeping sling society soldier standing supporting symbols and personifications uniform / kit woman work and occupations youth - primrose