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Sleep: a refuge from danger
Sleep Health xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Sleep Health Journal of the National Sleep Foundation journal homepage: sleephealthjournal.org
Cover Art
Sleep: a refuge from danger beloved country but often shown dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Juxtaposing anachronistic styles was immensely popular in magazines and in advertisements; whereas adults were assumed to be spoiled with materialism, children were pure. Another of Millais' paintings, Cherry Ripe, was a quintessential example 2: it is of a little girl in a hat popular before his time, sitting with a bowl of cherries at her side, looking up at the viewer. It is the very image of sweetness. The emotions of the girl in L'Enfant du Regiment, however, are more complex. FC Stephen describes the child in this way: The little one, wrapped in its father's coat, has just sobbed itself (sic) to sleep on the tomb of a knight, where the child had been laid out of further danger; the tears of pain have ceased to trickle down its face, and its sobbings have found rest in sleep.3
At first glance, L'Enfant du Regiment (The Random Shot) by Sir John Everett Millais (1929-1896) looks like an innocent and peaceful work. A child is resting on a wall, eyes closed and seemingly lost in her dreams. A closer look, however, tells quite a different story. The child's blanket is the garment of a French grenadier, and in the background, a group of soldiers appears to be in the midst of a fierce battle. A rat is staring up at her. The illusion of peace is broken, as we are transferred to the French Revolution, known as one of the bloodiest events in Western history. The story presented now brings forth many contradictions: innocence and violence, pain and comfort, injury and healing, sleep and death, religion and war. Millais based his painting on La Fille du Regiment, an opera by Gaetano Donizetti. In the opera, a girl named Marie plays the “daughter of the regiment,” as she is adopted by the soldiers of the French Revolution in service and she grows up in the military. 1 In L'Enfant du Regiment, the girl's “family” is seen behind her, presenting a “careful blending of vulnerability and care, danger and nurture.”1 This battle has been both the cause and the healing of the wound, as the soldiers have bandaged her hand and covered her with a garment. The sweetness of the child immediately presents unmistakable innocence. Millais was contemporary with a group of artists called the Pre-Raphaelites. These artists were known for portraying innocence of children in their works using soft tones and delicate expressions. To Millais, children represented the future of England as well as its past, a dichotomy communicated by the children wearing historical garb. They were the future populace bringing forth greatness to his
Millais created the above painting at the Priori Church of Icklesham, England, in the autumn of 1855. The tomb is a sculpture effigy to Gervaise Allard, a medieval knight. The duality of the ancient knight and the relatively modern coats of the French soldiers is echoed in the peaceful sleeps of both this knight and the child. After crying herself to sleep, she is the ideal image of peace in the middle of violence. Is she dreaming? If so, maybe she is imagining her country in peace. Lying on top of the past soldier and covered in a soldier's coat, she is supported and covered by images of battle but may be dreaming of a more peaceful reality and future. Disclosures The authors have declared that they have nothing to disclose. Isabella Siegel Guest Art Editor Meir H. Kryger MD* Art Editor *Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected]
Available online xxxx References 1. Furneaux, Holly. Military Men of Feeling: Emotion, Touch, and Masculinity in the Crimean War. Oxford University Press,. Oxford. 2016. 2. Bradley L. "From Eden to Empire: John Everett Millais' "Cherry Ripe"". In Victorian Studies Vol 34, no 2. Winter, 1991. Indiana University Press; 1991. pp 179-203. 3. Millais JG. The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, President of the Royal Academy. London: Methuen and Company. 1899.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2016.08.005 2352-7218/Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of National Sleep Foundation.
Please cite this article as: Siegel I, Kryger MH, Sleep: a refuge from danger, Sleep Health (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2016.08.005
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Sleep Health Journal of the National Sleep Foundation journal homepage: sleephealthjournal.org
Cover Art
Sleep: a refuge from danger beloved country but often shown dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Juxtaposing anachronistic styles was immensely popular in magazines and in advertisements; whereas adults were assumed to be spoiled with materialism, children were pure. Another of Millais' paintings, Cherry Ripe, was a quintessential example 2: it is of a little girl in a hat popular before his time, sitting with a bowl of cherries at her side, looking up at the viewer. It is the very image of sweetness. The emotions of the girl in L'Enfant du Regiment, however, are more complex. FC Stephen describes the child in this way: The little one, wrapped in its father's coat, has just sobbed itself (sic) to sleep on the tomb of a knight, where the child had been laid out of further danger; the tears of pain have ceased to trickle down its face, and its sobbings have found rest in sleep.3
At first glance, L'Enfant du Regiment (The Random Shot) by Sir John Everett Millais (1929-1896) looks like an innocent and peaceful work. A child is resting on a wall, eyes closed and seemingly lost in her dreams. A closer look, however, tells quite a different story. The child's blanket is the garment of a French grenadier, and in the background, a group of soldiers appears to be in the midst of a fierce battle. A rat is staring up at her. The illusion of peace is broken, as we are transferred to the French Revolution, known as one of the bloodiest events in Western history. The story presented now brings forth many contradictions: innocence and violence, pain and comfort, injury and healing, sleep and death, religion and war. Millais based his painting on La Fille du Regiment, an opera by Gaetano Donizetti. In the opera, a girl named Marie plays the “daughter of the regiment,” as she is adopted by the soldiers of the French Revolution in service and she grows up in the military. 1 In L'Enfant du Regiment, the girl's “family” is seen behind her, presenting a “careful blending of vulnerability and care, danger and nurture.”1 This battle has been both the cause and the healing of the wound, as the soldiers have bandaged her hand and covered her with a garment. The sweetness of the child immediately presents unmistakable innocence. Millais was contemporary with a group of artists called the Pre-Raphaelites. These artists were known for portraying innocence of children in their works using soft tones and delicate expressions. To Millais, children represented the future of England as well as its past, a dichotomy communicated by the children wearing historical garb. They were the future populace bringing forth greatness to his
Millais created the above painting at the Priori Church of Icklesham, England, in the autumn of 1855. The tomb is a sculpture effigy to Gervaise Allard, a medieval knight. The duality of the ancient knight and the relatively modern coats of the French soldiers is echoed in the peaceful sleeps of both this knight and the child. After crying herself to sleep, she is the ideal image of peace in the middle of violence. Is she dreaming? If so, maybe she is imagining her country in peace. Lying on top of the past soldier and covered in a soldier's coat, she is supported and covered by images of battle but may be dreaming of a more peaceful reality and future. Disclosures The authors have declared that they have nothing to disclose. Isabella Siegel Guest Art Editor Meir H. Kryger MD* Art Editor *Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected]
Available online xxxx References 1. Furneaux, Holly. Military Men of Feeling: Emotion, Touch, and Masculinity in the Crimean War. Oxford University Press,. Oxford. 2016. 2. Bradley L. "From Eden to Empire: John Everett Millais' "Cherry Ripe"". In Victorian Studies Vol 34, no 2. Winter, 1991. Indiana University Press; 1991. pp 179-203. 3. Millais JG. The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, President of the Royal Academy. London: Methuen and Company. 1899.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2016.08.005 2352-7218/Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of National Sleep Foundation.
Please cite this article as: Siegel I, Kryger MH, Sleep: a refuge from danger, Sleep Health (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2016.08.005