3-028-172 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

At the Royal Academy [in London], 1870. 'A lady's comments...may be overheard with advantage by the most learned critic. The feminine quickness of external perception and precise remembrance of individual details in scenery or in costume may go far to make up for the want of a scientific study of principles..."I like that so much!" and..."Oh! isn't that lovely?" are commonplace expressions of approval...women are qualified to feel the sentiment or moral purpose which the artist has sought to express; they enter...into the spirit of his work, especially when it represents some incident of domestic or social history, and when it appeals to the affections of charity and pity, of compassion or devotion...Such an instance is the subject of Mr. Millais's interesting picture: "The Flood," a cottager's baby adrift in its cradle...floating down the mighty torrent of the burst reservoir near Sheffield, yet innocently smiling and raising its little hand...Few lady-visitors have failed to stop and look at this particular square of painted canvas, without caring to inquire the verdict of critics and connoisseurs upon its merits...having gazed at the baby and the...kitten, [they] observe with satisfaction that the mother is coming in a boat to the rescue'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.