Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
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Henry Tate Collection
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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>
Knight Errant
Presented by Sir Henry Tate 1894
actions: expressive
adults
armour
body
bound
clothing and personal items
crime and punishment
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
female
forest
hair
heroism
history
knight
landscape
man
military
night
nudes
objects
people
period: Middle Ages
politics and society
rescuing
society
sword
times of the day
weapons
woman
work and occupations
<p>When this picture was shown at the Academy in 1870 it was accompanied by the description 'the order of Knights was instituted to protect widows and orphans, and to succour maidens in distress'. The work was reported as having been painted in six weeks. It is the only life-size female nude the artist ever painted. Millais had some difficulties in resolving the problems associated with such subject matter. Initially he painted the woman looking towards the spectator. The unpleasant effect this created led him to repaint her head looking away. An 1893 magazine article noted that 'for delicacy's sake' he placed the knight behind her.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
1 November 2001 – 31 August 2003
2003-08-31
6 September 2002 – 5 January 2003
2003-01-05
2002-09-06
Brooklyn Museum of Art (New York, USA)
2001-11-01
Exposed: The Victorian Nude
Exhibition
26 September 2007 – 26 October 2008
2008-10-26
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
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
20 October 2009 – 31 January 2010
2010-01-31
20 October 2009 – 31 January 2010
2010-01-31
2009-10-20
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid, Spain)
2009-10-20
Tears of Eros
Loan-out
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
5 November 2016 – 5 February 2017
2017-02-05
2016-11-05
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
18 March 2017 – 16 July 2017
2017-07-16
2017-03-18
Auckland Art Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand)
11 August 2017 – 4 February 2018
2018-02-04
2017-08-11
Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
24 March 2018 – 24 June 2018
2018-06-24
2018-03-24
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
13 July 2018 – 28 October 2018
2018-10-28
2018-07-13
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
10 November 2023 – 14 April 2024
2024-04-14
2023-11-10
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
1 April 2025 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
2025-04-01
External
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
1 February 2020 – 6 November 2020
2020-11-06
1 February 2020 – 6 November 2020
2020-11-06
2020-02-01
Bowes Museum (Barnard Castle, UK)
http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk
2020-02-01
Pre-Raphaelite Knights: Re inventing the medieval world in Victorian Britain
Loan-out
The Knight Errant
support: 1841 × 1353 mm
frame: 2200 × 1708 × 160 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> 1894
<p>The <i>Knight Errant</i> is a large <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> in which the figures are almost life size. When  shown at the Royal Academy in 1870, it was accompanied by a text of Millais's own invention which was printed in the exhibition catalogue: 'The order of Knights errant was instituted to protect widows and orphans, and to succour maidens in distress.' The moonlit scene apparently depicts an act of medieval chivalry in which one such Knight errant, clad in armour (based on examples that Millais had seen in the Tower of London), is on the point of freeing a woman who has been stripped and tied to a tree. The tree, a Silver Birch, was commonly identified with the female gender in the nineteenth century and was sometimes referred to as 'Lady Birch'. Birch twigs were also traditionally used in flagellation. The woman's clothes lie on the ground to the left and her molesters, assumed to be robbers by one critic, are seen fleeing the scene in the top right corner of 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/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a>. There is blood on the Knight's sword and the torso of a dead man is visible behind him. 

</p><p>The <i>Knight Errant</i> was Millais's first and only attempt at painting the female nude and critical reviews of the painting focussed on his treatment of the unclothed woman. Millais's naturalistic approach was compared with the continental practice of idealising the nude and placing it in a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/classicism" title="Glossary definition for 'Classicism'"><span>classical</span></a> setting, a model that was adhered to in England at this time by such artists as Frederick Leighton and Albert Moore. In fact, Millais was seeking to revive the early-<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/v/victorian" title="Glossary definition for 'Victorian'"><span>Victorian</span></a> tradition of the English nude that was begun by William Etty, an artist whom Millais admired and whose technique and use of rich colour Millais sought to emulate in this painting. Nevertheless, Millais's treatment of the nude figure and the ambiguity of the subject caused some consternation among critics who thought the woman too life-like. In June 1870, the <i>Art Journal</i> claimed that 'the manner is almost too real for the treatment of the nude' (quoted in Nead p.235) and assumptions were made about the woman's probable loose morals. 

</p><p>Recent x-ray <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/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photographs</span></a> of the picture reveal that her head and torso were originally turned towards the Knight, establishing eye contact. Many poor reviews, coupled with the fact that the painting did not sell, compelled Millais to cut out the head and chest of the female figure from his canvas and re-work these parts to show the woman turning modestly away. The original section was later sewn into another canvas and exhibited in 1872 as <i>The Martyr of The Solway </i>(Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool). Following Millais's revision, the <i>Knight Errant</i> was sold in 1874. 

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Lynda Nead, 'Representation, Sexuality and The Female Nude', <i>Art History</i>, vol.6, no.2, June 1983, pp.233-6.<br/>Alison Smith, <i>Exposed: The Victorian Nude</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Britain, London 2001, no.12, reproduced p.70, in colour.

</p><p>Rebecca Virag<br/>March 2001</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>When this picture was shown at 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/a/academy" title="Glossary definition for 'Academy'"><span>Academy</span></a> in 1870 it was accompanied by the description 'the order of Knights was instituted to protect widows and orphans, and to succour maidens in distress'. The work was reported as having been painted in six weeks. It is the only life-size female nude the artist ever painted. Millais had some difficulties in resolving the problems associated with such subject matter. Initially he painted the woman looking towards the spectator. The unpleasant effect this created led him to repaint her head looking away. An 1893 magazine article noted that 'for delicacy's sake' he placed the knight behind her.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: expressive adults armour body bound clothing and personal items crime and punishment emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas female forest hair heroism history knight landscape man military night nudes objects people period: Middle Ages politics and society rescuing society sword times of the day weapons woman work and occupations