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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

The Sound of Many Waters

painting by John Everett Millais (1829–1896), National Trust for Scotland, Fyvie Castle

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ119121859 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Sound of Many Waters is an 1876 landscape painting by the British artist John Everett Millais. It depicts a view of the Falls of the Braan near Dunkeld in Perthshire. Millais was staying nearby and the picture was produced on the spot En plein air.

The title is taken from the Book of Revelation. The painting was displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts's Summer Exhibition of 1877 at Burlington House in London. Today it is in the collection of Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire in the control of the National Trust for Scotland.

See also

List of paintings by John Everett Millais

References

Bibliography

Barlow, Paul. Time Present and Time Past: The Art of John Everett Millais. Routledge, 2017.

Bradley, Ian.

Editorial summary

“The Sound of Many Waters” enters the record as painting by John Everett Millais (1829–1896), National Trust for Scotland, Fyvie Castle. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sound, Many and Waters can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1876, 1877, 2017—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1876-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Sound, Many and Waters.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“The Sound of Many Waters” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sound, Many and Waters provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q119121859. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1877 and 2017.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Sound of Many Waters”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Sound of Many Waters primary sources, The Sound of Many Waters archive and Sound research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Sound of Many Waters”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Sound of Many Waters” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.