Lillie on loan to the Tate

Tuesday 25th September 2007, 12:00AM BST.

JERSEY’S best-known artist is the subject of the big autumn show at the Tate Britain. And Jersey’s most famous actress will be among the portraits on display.

Sir John Everett Millais was a superstar of his day – a Victorian artist of huge repute with a lifestyle to match. His statue stands proud outside the Tate, one of the country’s most visited galleries and home to the annual Turner Prize exhibition. The exhibition celebrating his life and work will feature a complete range of works including the portrait of Lillie Langtry – a Jersey Lily – which has been loaned to the Tate by the Jersey Heritage Trust. Millais was born in Southampton in 1829 but spent much of his childhood in Jersey, where his family had lived since the 1300s. The Millais family moved to London in 1838 so that he could attend art classes and he soon entered the Royal Academy as its youngest ever member.

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