Portrait of Lord Alfred Tennyson 

Sir John Everett Millais painted this portrait of Lord Alfred Tennyson with oil on canvas. You can see the very fluid, thin consistency of the oil paint, and the way Millais let it drip a bit in the background. This allows the light to play across the surface in a very particular way. The artist is using industrial pigments; these colors came into being through intense processes of extraction, refinement, and combination. Much of the labor associated with the creation of such portraits is therefore invisibly present, embedded in the materials themselves. Millais here is deeply involved with the means of production, with the making of an image, in order to imbue the portrait with social and cultural significance. He is showing us not just Tennyson's likeness, but also the technologies of representation that have made his likeness so powerful. So, next time you are looking at a painting, think about the materials, the making, and the context. This will help you understand the full meaning of the artwork, and challenge traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.