A major landscape by the artist John Everett Millais is being donated to the Tate Britain gallery by one of his great-grandsons, Geoffroy Millais.

Dew-Drenched Furze 1890 by John Everett Millais has been donated to Tate Britain by one of his great grandsons, Geoffroy Millais

The 1890 work, Dew-Drenched Furze, is regarded as one of the great achievements of his later art, the gallery said.

It will go on show at London's Tate Britain as part of the BP British Art Displays on Wednesday to mark the 190th anniversary of Sir Henry Tate's birth.

Painted on site on the Murthly estate in Perthshire, Scotland, the gift also represents an acknowledgement of Millais' friendship with Sir Henry, who was Tate's first benefactor.

Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain, said: "This exquisite work is one of the finest examples of Millais' late landscapes and will significantly enhance Tate's holdings from this important period in his oeuvre."

Millais set out to capture the wintry morning sun streaming through a clearing.

The eye is allowed to wander through a gap in a forest, along bracken, gorse and ferns laden with frost.

The artist's great-grandson, Geoffroy Millais, is donating the work.