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Effie Gray, a renowned beauty and socialite, was at the centre of Victorian England’s most scandalous love triangle, involving two giants of the art world. Married at 19 to the much older John Ruskin, the leading art critic of the time, she found herself trapped in a loveless and unconsummated union with a husband who was to claim that “her person was not formed to excite passion”. Then, on a trip to Scotland during which John Everett Millais, Ruskin’s acclaimed protégé, was supposed to paint her husband’s portrait, she and Millais fell in love. This was to result in public disgrace, but also in a long and happy second marriage.
Suzanne Fagence Cooper is a research fellow and curator at the V&A. She has already written several books and essays on the period, and her knowledge of Victorian art has led her to work as a consultant for BBC programmes. She gained exclusive access to Effie’s extensive and previously unseen letters and diaries in order to write this book.
