Pizarro Seizing the Inca of Peru
John Everett Millais (1829-1896)
Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1846
Great Britain
Oil on canvas
128.3 x 171.7 cm
Museum no. 121-1897
Bequeathed by Henry Hodgkinson 1897

This unusual subject is the capture of the Inca emperor Atahuelpa by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1532. As a model for Pizarro, Millais used an actor who had recently appeared in a play of the same name. Millais was only 16 when he painted this work. It belonged to his half-brother