Millais' Arch

Thanks to a will-be-unnamed-but-totally-rocks source of mine in England, I have been able to watch the absolutely riveting documentary that was just on ITV1 in England a week or so ago, Andrew Lloyd Webber: A Passion for the Pre-Raphaelites. I haven't even finished the series yet, and I'm utterly engrossed.

But tonight as I was watching part of it, I was blown away. Just. Look.





This was Millais' design for a Gothic Arch, made of entwined angels in passionate embrace. I think my heart skipped a beat when I saw this piece. I had never seen it before, and in fact when I immediately paused the video and Googled it, the only images I could find were blurry black and whites. I am utterly smitten.

I've always been, I must confess, a little more in love with Millais' sketches than with his finished art. Don't get me wrong, his art is incredible. But there's something in the freedom of his sketches that just fixates me. This is especially true of his sketches with romantic themes. Something about this design for the gothic arch just feels like the same romantic passion as I've loved in his sketch work.

The story is...apparently this arch design was never actually realized in the 19th century. But a few years ago, according the the narrator Webber, he said that he "thought he'd have some fun" and commission the actual arch to be made. The results....





Gorgeous. Not quite the same as Millais' graceful figures, but still so beautiful. When will Design Toscano offer a reproduction of this piece in resin for my wall?

:)