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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Autumn Leaves
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(1856, Manchester City Art Gallery)
Painting by *Millais which evokes the Victorian obsession with transience and death. In the fading light of sunset a pile of red and brown leaves, beginning to burn, is tended by four young girls – their youth the only detail not yet claimed by autumn. Two of the four gaze at the leaves, but the others stare challengingly at the onlooker. The picture follows the *Pre-Raphaelite principles (painted from nature, serious in its theme), but it has at least as much to do with the sentimental mood of Victorian poetry.
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