Study of a Pottery Jug [recto]
c. 1842
![Study of a Pottery Jug [recto] by John Everett Millais](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/nga/thumb/study-of-a-pottery-jug-recto-nga-76095.webp)
Medium
watercolor over graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 9.2 x 14.9 cm (3 5/8 x 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of William B. O'Neal
Accession Number
1995.52.120.a
Art Historical Context
Behold *Study of a Pottery Jugrecto]*, a delicate watercolor over graphite sketch by John Everett Millais, created around 1842 when the artist was just 13 years old. Millais, later a founding member of the revolutionary Pre-Raphaelite in 1848, was already a prodigy, having entered the Royal Academy schools age 11—the youngest ever admitted. This modest study captures his budding talent for precise observation, rendering an everyday pottery jug with remarkable clarity on a tiny sheet of wove paper (.2 x 14.9 cm). The medium exemplifies early 19th-century drawing practices: faint graphite under...