John Everett Millais (English, 1829-1896)
Ophelia
1851-1852
Oil on canvas (76 x 112 cm)
Tate
The painting depicts Ophelia singing while floating in a river just before she drowns. The scene is described in Hamlet in a speech by Queen Gertrude.
The episode depicted is not usually seen onstage, as in Shakespeare's text it exists only in Gertrude's description. Out of her mind with grief, Ophelia has been making garlands of wildflowers. She climbs into a willow tree overhanging a brook to dangle some from its branches, and a bough breaks beneath her. She lies in the water singing songs, as if unaware of her danger ("incapable of her own distress"). Her clothes, trapping air, have allowed her to temporarily stay afloat ("Her clothes spread wide, / And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up."). But eventually, "her garments, heavy with their drink, / Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay" down "to muddy death".
Ophelia's death has been praised as one of the most poetically written death scenes in literature.
Ophelia was modelled by artist and muse Elizabeth Siddall, then 22 years old. Millais had Siddall lie fully clothed in a full bathtub in his studio in London. As it was now winter, he placed oil lamps under the tub to warm the water, but was so intent on his work that he allowed them to go out. As a result, Siddall caught a severe cold, and her father later sent Millais a letter demanding £50 for medical expenses. According to Millais's son, he eventually accepted a lower sum.
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