Biography of Annie Miller 1835-1925
In 1835 Annie Miller was born to Henry Miller Soldier.
1853. William Holman Hunt (age 25). "Awakening Conscience". A mistress realises the undesirability of her actions. Note the absence of a wedding ring on her finger. Hunt hired a room at 7 Alpha Place, a "maison de convenance" to complete the painting. The painting has many symbols: the cat toying with the broken-winged bird under the table symbolises the woman's plight, a man's discarded glove warns that the likely fate of a cast-off mistress was prostitution, a tangled skein of yarn on the floor symbolises the web in which the girl is entrapped. The frame, designed by Hunt, also contains various symbolic emblems; the bells and marigolds stand for warning and sorrow, the star is a sign of spiritual revelation. [Source. Tate]. The model is Annie Miller (age 18).
1855. John Everett Millais 1st Baronet (age 25). Portrait of Annie Miller (age 20).
The Diary of George Price Boyce 1858. 21 Jan 1858. January 21. Holman Hunt (age 30) and Martineau called on me at 7 and stayed till nearly half-past 10. After desultory chat and looking at drawings, etc., Hunt introduced the subject which principally brought him. Having in prospect to marry Annie Miller (age 23), after that her education both of mind and manners shall have been completed, he wished to destroy as far as was possible all traces of her former occupation, viz, that of sitting to certain artists (those artists, however, being all his personal friends, Rossetti, A. Hughes, Stephens, Egg, Holliday, Millais, Collins and myself), and as mine was the only direct study of her head, as it was, he would hold it a favour if I would give it him and he in return would give me something of his doing that I might like. At first I resisted stoutly, but finding that it was a serious point with him, and that my refusing would be in some degree an obstacle in the carrying out of his wishes with regard to her (which it would be both selfish and unkind and foolish in the remotest degree to thwart) I at last reluctantly assented to give him the study, the most careful and the most interesting (to me) and which I prize the most I have ever made. He thanked me heartily for my compliance. He gave me real pleasure by telling me that she says I always behaved most kindly to her.
Around 1860. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 31). Portrait of Annie Miller (age 25).
1863. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 34). "Dona en Groc" aka "Woman in Yellow". Model Annie Miller (age 28).
1863. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 34). "Helen of Troy". Model Annie Miller (age 28).
Before 28 Dec 1865 William Holman Hunt (age 38) and Annie Miller (age 30) were engaged. He subsequently broke it off.
1866. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 37). Drawing of Annie Miller (age 31).
1866. William Holman Hunt (age 38). "Il Dolce far Niente" aka "The Sweetness of Nothing(?)". Model Annie Miller (age 31).
1871. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 42). Dante's Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice. Models: Beatrice: Jane Morris nee Burden (age 31), far left Alice aka Alexa Wilding (age 24), far right Annie Miller (age 36).
In 1925 Annie Miller (age 90) died. She was buried at Mill Lane Cemetery.