The Martyr of the Solway

This is a depiction of Margaret Wilson, a Scottish martyr who was sentenced to death by drowning. As one of the Scottish Presbyterian Covenanters, she had refused to acknowledge James VII as head of the church, and so along with Margaret McLachlan, eighteen-year-old Wilson was tied to a stake in the Solway Firth. X-rays have revealed that Millais originally painted the female martyr as a nude.