Isabella | John Everett Millais | 1848-49

Isabella (1848–49) by John Everett Millais, one of the earliest masterpieces of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, dramatizes a moment from a tale by Boccaccio that Keats later retold in poetry: the tragic love between Isabella and her servant Lorenzo. Millais fills the scene with meticulous detail and psychological tension—Isabella leans protectively toward Lorenzo, while her brutal brothers, who will later murder him, sit on the opposite side of the table, their hostility already visible in their stiff postures and violent gestures. The exaggerated perspectives, brilliant colors, and symbolic details—like the ominous dog gnawing a bone or the brother’s aggressive kick—heighten the sense of foreboding. At once a moral tale about love crushed by greed and family honor, and a showcase of Pre-Raphaelite ideals of truth to nature and vivid narrative drama, the painting balances romance with violence, turning a domestic supper into a stage for betrayal and doom.