John Everett Millais, The Blind Girl, 1854, oil on canvas. Millais was one of the founders of the pr

John Everett Millais, The Blind Girl, 1854, oil on canvas.
Millais was one of the founders of the pre-raphaelite movement, which sought to imbue British art with the same detail and vitality seen in Italian renaissance painting. Although this piece does possess a sentimental theme it is still alluding to a deeper meaning. The blind girl and the child mirror the image of the virgin and christ, and the butterfly which sits on her shawl is symbolic of the soul, the fact the butterfly and the double rainbow go unnoticed is also indicative of the girls blindness to the beauty around her, due to her affliction. Despite this through the religious imagery we can assume that Christ will endow her with a new and better vision as in the biblical miracle.