Amazingly, this painting is Millais’ first important religious subject. It shows the boyhood of Christ, of which not much is known. The gospels of St Luke and St Matthew speak on Christ’s childhood years. Christ’s dedication is at Luke 2:21-40 and His visit to the temple when He was 12 years old is found at Luke 2:41-52. The Gospel of Matthew includes a visit from some wise men. These stories precede Christ’s ministry. Nothing is known of what occurred between His dedication at the temple at eight days old, and His visit to Jerusalem when He was 12. Then nothing is known after this point until the beginning of Christ’s ministry. The painting depicts an imagined scene in the family’s workshop. Christ’s earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter by trade. He is the patron saint of workers. The painting was exhibited in 1850 at first, with no caption save the below:
And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. (Zech. 13:6)
Christ in the House of His Parents (‘The Carpenter’s Shop’) 1849-50 Sir John Everett Millais, Bt 1829-1896
There are a number of astonishing details in this scene which are worth discussing. It prefigures the crucifixion. We can see that Christ has hurt His hand on a loose nail, His mother is comforting Him. There is a drop of blood on His hand which has dripped onto His foot. St Joseph is inspecting Christ’s hand lovingly. John the Baptist is bringing Christ some water to bathe His wound. All eyes are fixed on Jesus, including that of a flock of sheep which have come up to see what is happening.
Following the Pre-Raphaelite credo of truth to nature, Millais painted the scene in meticulous detail and based the setting on a real carpenter’s shop in Oxford Street. The sheep in the background, intended to represent the Christian flock, were drawn from two sheep’s heads obtained from a local butcher. He avoided using professional models, and relied instead on friends and family. Joseph’s head was a portrait of Millais’s own father, but the body was based on a real carpenter, with his rough hands, sinewy arms and prominent veins. The Virgin Mary was his sister-in-law Mary Hodgkinson, who also appears in Millais’s Isabella (1848-9, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool); John the Baptist was posed by a young adopted cousin, Edwin Everett; and Nöel Humphreys, the son of an artist friend, sat for the young Christ. Tate
The atmosphere of this painting is really striking. There is a real sense of time stopping, a moment of extreme importance which is recognised by everyone in the room. Christ is the son of God, his injury might not be significant but it would have been vital that it was seen to immediately. Mary knew what she was taking on when she said yes to God at Luke 1:38:
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Mary and Joseph are aware of the importance of their son, but they also love him as parents love their children. His injury prompts a loving response of care and empathy. It also seems to prompt some fear from his friend and cousin John the Baptist. The reaction of the animals is curious also. Many paintings depicting the birth of Christ show animals flocking around Him. There are no mention of animals in the Gospels during the birth, but there are a number of mentions of animals throughout the Bible, notably perhaps in Mark’s Gospel: “13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.”. Though I suppose the sheep in this instance are closer related to Christ being the lamb of God, sacrificed for the salvation of mankind.
Looking at the whole picture, it shows a scene of the Holy Family in their workshop, in an ordinary situation where a child has injured himself. This is why the painting prompted such fury. The Holy Family were seldom if ever depicted in an ordinary scene. The Times called the painting ‘revolting’ adding that there was “no conceivable omission of misery, of dirt, of even disease, all finished with the same loathsome minuteness.” Charles Dickens was one of the most vociferous in its opposition, he described the young Christ as ‘a hideous, wry-necked, blubbering, red-headed boy, in a bed gown’ (Household Words, 15 June 1850). I think it is a masterpiece. It is provocative, to be sure, but Millais was one of the greats in the Pre Raphaelite brotherhood and an exquisite painter in his own right. This painting is moving for its simplicity and its humble brilliance. Seeing it, I felt a surge of excitement and awe both at the subject depicted, and at the bravery of the artist painting it.
It is in the Tate Britain in London, free for any and all.