JAMES HAYLLAR, R.B.A. (BRITISH, 1829-1920)

In 1863, Millais scored a great success at the Royal Academy when he exhibited My First Sermon, in which a small girl, smartly dressed, sits attentively in the family pew listening to an address she struggles to understand. It was a subject many could identify with from childhood, but in 1864 he completed the joke by exhibiting My Second Sermon, in which the same sitter is shown slumped and asleep, the novelty having worn off.
James Hayllar copied the formula a couple of years later in 1866 when he showed Miss Lily’s Carriage Stops the Way. A young girl stands on her parents’ London staircase, having her costume adjusted by her maid, en route to her first party. The humor lies in the title, the scene will no doubt be repeated life-long. Hayllar compounded his success the following year with Miss Lily’s First Flirtation (private collection), and Miss Lily’s Return from the Ball (included here). Each picture proved hugely popular with the public, and the series was widely reproduced through engraving. These can be seen in the background of James Hayllar’s later portrait of his daughter Mary, suggesting that she may have been the model for the present picture. James Hayllar was the father of four highly successful daughters: Jessica, Edith, Mary and Kate, each of whom exhibited at the Royal Academy. Their depictions of the idyllic family life they enjoyed at Castle Priory, Wallingford, are now much sought after by collectors.