![John Everett Milllai - Portrait of Kate Perugini, Daughter of Charles Dickens [1880] by Gandalf's Gallery](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7460/12830598865_39e8489421.jpg)
John Everett Milllai - Portrait of Kate Perugini, Daughter of Charles Dickens [1880], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.
As the youngest surviving daughter of the most famous writer of his age, Kate Dickens (1839-1929) enjoyed a high profile in society and moved in artistic circles. Millais’ painting depicts the pivotal point in Kate’s life when the occasion of her second marriage to Carlo Eduardo Perugini brought her much happiness. The artist was one of only five guests at the 1874 wedding. Millais encouraged Kate’s painting and she became a successful portrait painter. Kate’s first husband was Charles Collins, brother of the author Wilkie Collins. She was left a widow in 1873 and subsequently married Carlo Eduardo Perugini. The portrait of Kate has been compared to John Singer Sargent’s infamous portrait of Madame X of 1884; the suggestiveness of the American artist’s picture created a scandal, Millais’ eroticism was more subtle.
[Sold for £241,250 at Sotheby’s, London - Oil on canvas, 125 x 80 cm]