Challenged by the artistic excellence and popular success of his early work, A Huguenot, on St Bartholomew’s Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge, the Pre-Raphaelite painter, John Everett Millais turned to the same theme once more. Mercy: St Bartholomew’s Day, 1572, however, failed to meet expectations. The essay attempts to reveal certain reasons for the vast difference in the reception of the two pictures and offers a close study of the scenes and characters depicted in them as well as of the social, religious, and cultural contexts of the historical periods the pictures were produced in. (ÉP)
