The Brothers Dalziel / A Record of Fifty Years Work in Conjunction with many of the Most Distinguished Artists of the Period 1840-1890

by George Dalziel; Edward Dalziel

Yours sincerely,
John E Millais

Messrs. Dalziel brothers

Millais produced several of the drawings very promptly, but, as time went on and he became more popular—the demand for his pictures daily increasing—longer intervals gradually took place between the delivery of the drawings, and it was not until the end of 1864 that the last was sent in. Even then he had only made twenty drawings out of thirty, which he at first undertook to do. At the same time he requested us to release him from the remainder of the agreement, and to this we had no choice but to comply, though we did so very reluctantly, feeling that the world of art would be so much the poorer.

In 1862 we accepted an offer from Mr. Alexander Strahan, and twelve of these pictures were published in Good Words Magazine. Later, in 1864, the entire series was published for us in book form by George Routledge & Sons. But we are sorry to say they did not receive that liberal recognition from either the public or the critics which their undoubted excellence ought to have commanded.

When we conceived the idea of doing an Illustrated Bible, of which we will have much to say further on, Millais was one of the first artists we consulted on the subject. He warmly approved of the project, and promised his most hearty and liberal co-operation; but like many other equally hearty promises from artists of note, they were never fulfilled, not, we are sure, from any want of sympathy with the subject, but owing entirely to the pressure of other engagements. At last his undertaking on this work simmered down to a positive promise of one drawing, and that to be "Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden," but though he was often solicited, and always promised to set about it immediately, he never made the drawing, nor do we know that he went so far as to make even the slightest rough sketch of a design for it. To us this was an inexpressible disappointment, as without that picture it was obviously impossible to commence the publication.

The Unjust Judge.[11]

FROM "THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD."

By Sir J. E. Millais, P.R.A.