And then they all marched out of the room

And then they all marched out of the room

John Everett Millais

Wood engraving by the Dalziels

6¼ x 4¼ inches

Anthony Trollope,Orley Farm, Vol 1. Facing p.46.

Millais’s take on the world of the ‘commercial gentleman’ who occupy the tradesmen’s room at the Bull Inn, Leeds. The informality of the composition, with its relaxed ‘gentlemen’ and everyday décor, forms a sharp contrast with the anguish of the preceding scene: movement measured against immobility, languor against anxiety. The illustration materializes Trollope’s writing at its most Dickensian, giving us a glimpse of contemporary society life outside his usual, bourgeois milieu.

  • Anthony Trollope
  • Orley Farm

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