The artwork titled “A Flood,” created by John Everett Millais in 1870, is an oil painting on canvas that belongs to the Romanticism art movement. It is a genre painting with dimensions of 99.3 x 144.9 cm.
The artwork depicts a poignant scene following a flood, capturing the innocence of a child and a black cat on a floating cradle or small bed, adrift on murky floodwaters. The child, swathed in a patchwork quilt, lies on the makeshift raft with one hand raised, as if reaching out. The cat, perched at the end of the wooden structure, appears alert. In the background, the inundated landscape shows submerged fields and distant buildings, creating a backdrop of quiet despair. The somber tones and detailed brushwork of the painting evoke the peril and vulnerability of the characters within this natural calamity.
