William James (Royal Navy officer, born 1881) sat as a subject for several paintings by his grandfather, Millais. The most well-known of these is "Bubbles", in which the five-year-old William is shown gazing enraptured at a bubble he has just blown. When the painting was used in an advertisement for Pears soap, it became famous. The image dogged James throughout his life, and he was regularly nicknamed "Bubbles". James pursued a career in the Royal Navy, rising to hold a number of important positions. Following early service on the training ship HMS "Britannia", he was confirmed in the rank of sub-lieutenant on 15 April 1901. He was
Mariana (Millais) a clue as to how long Mariana has been working on it. In the painting "Mariana", Millais included many details that relate directly to Tennyson's poetry. One example is the curtain. In the poem, Tennyson wrote, "When thickest dark did trance the sky, She drew her casement-curtain by, and glanced athwart the glooming flats". Although there is not a curtain in Millais' painting, this line is similar to the scene that is presented outside of the window. The viewer perceives an ominous feeling, just like the dark storm that Tennyson alludes to in the line above. The little mouse that