《穿黑衣的布伦瑞克人》(The Black Brunswicker) 表现了一个年轻的军官将要离开他的未婚妻时的情景。画中女子的模特是查理·狄更斯的女儿凯特。画中描绘了拿破仑时代，在比利时布鲁塞尔里士弗公爵举办的一次舞会上，年轻的军官是德国布伦瑞克队伍中的骑兵。他的未婚妻正试图阻止他离去而将门闩划上，伏在他腿上的小狗也在给她鼓劲。

　　虽然这并不是米雷斯最高水平的作品，但画中仍有些细节值得称道，如褶皱的墙壁上的壁纸起了卷，女子身上光亮的绸缎褶裙和军官身上的制服是照着普鲁士军人的制服而画，甚至那条可爱的小狗也足以与在维多利亚时代擅长画动物的埃德文·西尔笔下健美的动物媲美。

　Millais spent three months painting ‘The Black Brunswickers’. Studies for the work exist both in the Lady Lever Art Gallery’s archives as well as in Tate Britain. Millais used Charles Dickens’s daughter Kate as the model for the girl and a private in the Life Guards for the soldier. Each had to model separately using a lay figure to lean against.

　Millais wished to be historically accurate in making the girl’s dress look quite antique (it is actually a compromise between the fashions of 1859 and 1815 when waists were still kept high). The intensity of emotions is well conveyed in the close encounter of the couple, the girl’s body attempting to obstruct the soldier from his task and prevent his destiny.

　The dark and enclosed space enhances the tragedy of the scene. The work appeals both to spectators’ patriotism and sentimentality. The only distraction is perhaps the brilliant shine of the girl’s dress, its creases tempting spectators’ tactile senses. The dog at the soldier’s feet also draws attention to the humanity of the subject. On the wall of the room an engraving of a painting by JL David (1748-1825), depicting Napoleon crossing the Alps serves as a reminder of Waterloo while also alluding to current events in 1860, when Napoleon III entered upon a war in Northern Italy in an attempt to expel the Austrians.

 

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