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PAG1-millais-sirisumbras-jpg

This half-tone reproduction of John Millais’s 1854 oil painting is presented in reverse to the original, and is in landscape orientation. It depicts a knight, Sir Isumbras, modelled by Colonel Campbell, taking two children across a river on his horse. Because the image is reversed, they travel across the image from left to right. The knight is old with gray hair and a beard. He is wearing full-body armour, but his helmet hangs at his waist by his sword, with a peacock feather hanging from it. In his arms, the knight holds a girl child wearing a dress, clasping a shawl around her shoulders with her right hand. She holds onto the horse’s main with her left hand. She is barefoot with her ankles crossed. She gazes up at the knight’s face. Behind him, a small boy child, modeled by Millais’s son, holds on with his arms around Sir Isumbras’s waist. The boy wears a short tunic, and his trousers are rolled up over his knees. He sits on a pillow and his bare right leg is visible to the viewer. The boy carries a bundle of branches tied to his back and he gazes directly at the viewer. All three figures sit on top of a black steed that is ornately harnessed in leather and gold. The horse is walking in the river with water up to its chest. There are reeds in front of the horse in the right foreground of the image. Perspective allows the viewer to see both banks of the river in the distance. There are two women, who appear to be nuns, walking along the far bank, facing the viewer. Their images are reflected in the water. In the central distance there is an arched stone bridge, and in the right-hand side of the image is a large building, possibly a castle. Dense woods surround the buildings in the background.

This half-tone reproduction of John Millais’s 1854 oil painting is presented in reverse to the original, and is in landscape orientation. It depicts a knight, Sir Isumbras, modelled by Colonel Campbell, taking two children across a river on his horse. Because the image is reversed, they travel across the image from left to right. The knight is old with gray hair and a beard. He is wearing full-body armour, but his helmet hangs at his waist by his sword, with a peacock feather hanging from it. In his arms, the knight holds a girl child wearing a dress, clasping a shawl around her shoulders with her right hand. She holds onto the horse’s main with her left hand. She is barefoot with her ankles crossed.