THE BLIND GIRL
by: Sir John Everett Millais, 1854
A beautiful landscape contrasted by the dark skies above and the faith of humanity below.
I noticed that the Blind girl has her eyes slightly open as she faces the full grandeur of the sun. Seeing only the landscape in her mind, sensing the magnificence of her spirit. Feeling the moisture on the ground as she touches the blades of grass with her right hand. The temporary storm has passed as evidenced by the dark clouds. The day is still ahead and the task at hand, to reach the town in order to display her musical talent. It is early, it is spring with the promise of a new start, a blossom to life. Holding the hand of her younger sister, either for guidance or for the sibling’s security, the sibling gazes at the double rainbow in the background, understanding the promise that forever binds the heavens to humanity. The birds are free, the butterfly is free, and the animals are temporarily at pasture. This is a contrast that is noted by the two sisters in the foreground. They are weighed down by the need to earn a living, by the heavy, bulky and damp clothing as the young girl attempts to wipe of the rain from her delicate face. And finally, their boots in the fresh mud and the Blind girl’s ailment, the endless weight of our fate to be flawed humans. The double rainbows span over the church and in the clouds, indicating Gods Promise to the sisters, the animals and Humanity:
- “…It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth..”. Genesis 9:12-17
The painter depicts a puddle in the foreground, illustrating the need for water by drawing the birds on the ground rather than flight, they are collecting rain drops from the blades of grass or puddles hidden in the pasture. The white donkey, too, is in the water swale in the midground of this beautiful landscape. Next to the Blind girl’s hand are blue blossoms, for without water there are no flowers, without rain drops there can be no greener pastures.
The allegory of the Blind girl - how she is at peace with her condition, the sweetness of her remaining senses, lends gently to the lambs in the field off to the right-hand side of the painting. The lambs lay in the pasture, carefree and settled. The cattle too, lay opposite the lambs. The horse centered in the landscape alludes to the Shepard being nearby. Although the horse being prominent, white, pure and powerful; he yields to the donkey as the protector of the herd of lamb, the donkey is alert as he keeps a watchful eye towards the peaceful girls and the lambs. The allegory of the senses.
This is a wonderful and sentimental piece of art. One that evokes a tremendous amount of emotion, and it should.