The Vale of Rest by John Everett Millais (Interpretation and Analysis)

The Vale of Rest
Source: Wikimedia Commons

For day two of John Everett Millais week, I want to take a look at a more staid, contemplative piece of art: The Vale of Rest.

The title of this piece comes from composer Felix Mendelssohn's song Ruhetal, which translates to restful valley in German. Like Mendelssohn's song—which discusses the narrator’s final resting-place—Millais’ painting explores the theme of death.

The piece depicts a graveyard at twilight. Two nuns are present, one is vigorously digging a grave, while the other woman sits on a headstone. Her face is turned toward the viewer, and her expression conveys pain and sadness. There is no sign of what they are burying or exhuming, but the nun’s anguished face and the skull on her rosary beads clearly signals death. Two wreaths rest next to the sitting nun, another sign that a funeral may be about to take place. A low wall surrounds the graveyard, and the belfry of a chapel can be seen in the distance. A purply, golden sky completes the piece, signaling that night is coming.

The presence of nuns in the piece is a bit strange. During the nineteenth century, Catholics in England were few and far between and often faced suspicion. While there were Anglican nuns at this time, the rosary beads in the hand of the seated nun indicate that these women are Catholic. Their presence may indicate that Millais intended the piece to be set in an earlier time period, or perhaps Millais just intended to puzzle his viewers.

The overall atmosphere of the piece is a bit gloomy and mysterious, however Millais intended The Vale of Rest to be hung next to his earlier painting Spring, a bright scene that depicts young girls in an apple orchard. Seen in this light, The Vale of Rest takes on a different aspect. Spring is often understood as a celebration of youth and beauty (although it also hints at the transitory nature of these characteristics). However, when combined with The Vale of Rest, Spring can be seen as a somewhat tragic image, a moment of fleeting, youthful happiness set against a backdrop of inevitable death.

 

Spring 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

There is another parallel between the two paintings. As in Spring, The Vale of Rest depicts a woman who looks directly at the viewer. The nun in the foreground fixes the viewer with an anguished expression, while, in Spring, Alice, Millais’ sister-in-law, lies on the grass, gazing directly at the viewer. The nun’s face contrasts strongly with Alice’s expression. Where one is soft and languorous, the other is tense and full of pain. Yet, The direct gaze of these two women creates a visual connection between the paintings. More importantly, by looking at the viewers, the two women bring them into the paintings, reminding viewers that Millais’ message applies to them as well.

That is clear: mortality is universal and death is inevitable. However, The Vale of Rest isn’t a grim or grisly image. In characteristic Millais fashion, there is an undertone of drama and romance in The Vale of Rest. Like most of Millais’ paintings, it tells a story. Art critic Tom Lubbock describes the narrative of the piece in the following words:

“Graves. Dusk. A walled enclosure. The spooky, looming trees. Nuns. Catholics (in England then, still an object of suspicion). Sexual segregation. Religiosity. Mistress and servant, a power relationship, maybe some deeper emotional bondage. Female labour. Something being buried or exhumed. Twin wreaths. The deep, dark earth. Corpses, secrets, conspiracy, fear. It's a picture that pulls out all the stops. It's like one of those moments in grand opera when plot, setting and music come together.”

Effie Gray, Millais’ wife, had similar comments about the piece. She notes that her husband was inspired to create The Vale of Rest while they traveled through Scotland on their honeymoon, although he didn’t start the painting for another three years. Gray describes the moment of inspiration in these words:

“On descending the hill by Loch Awe, from Inverary, he was extremely struck with its beauty, and the coachman told us that on one of the islands were the ruins of a monastery. We imagined to ourselves the beauty of the picturesque features of the Roman Catholic religion.”

Gray’s comments hint at a half-realized, imaginary tale that lurks behind The Vale of Rest. The exact narrative conveyed in the piece is unclear, but that’s not important. The atmosphere of the piece tells its own story.