The Boyhood of Raleigh

The Boyhood of Raleigh is a painting by John Everett Millais, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1871. It came to epitomise the culture of heroic Imperialism in late Victorian Britain and in British popular culture up to the mid-twentieth century.

The painting depicts the wide-eyed young Sir Walter Raleigh and his brother sitting on the beach by the Devonshire coast. He is listening to a story of life on the seas, told by an experienced sailor who points out to the sea.

The painting was influenced by an essay written by James Anthony Froude on England's Forgotten Worthies, which described the lives of Elizabethan seafarers. It was also probably influenced by a recent biography of Raleigh.

The picture has appeared in recent explorations of postcolonialism, most notably Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight's Children