Yale Center for British Art
Creator:
Sir John Everett Millais, 1829–1896, British
Title:
L'Enfant du Régiment
Date:
1854 to 1855
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on paper, laid on canvas, mounted on board
Dimensions:
17 3/4 x 24 inches (45.1 x 61 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.4
Gallery Label:
John Everett Millais derived his subject from Donizetti’s opera La Fille du régiment. The heroine of the opera is Marie, offspring of a secret liaison between an aristocratic Englishwoman and a French army officer. After her father’s death in battle in the Napoleonic wars, Marie is adopted by his regiment. Millais represents not a scene from the opera but rather an incident from her earlier life and one of his own invention: during fighting in a church, Marie has been wounded and lies sleeping on a knight’s tomb. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016