Ophelia by John Everett Millais

My English class has recently begun studying Shakespeare’s Hamlet, so I thought it was an appropriate time to look into paintings depicting subject matter from the play. Many artists have painted the scene in which Ophelia, the love interest of Hamlet, drowns. I suspect part of the appeal of painting this scene lies in the mystery of it because Shakespeare only describes the death through the words of one character, Gertrude, and not through a visual representation on stage. One of the only facts known about Ophelia’s death and probable suicide (it is unknown whether Ophelia accidentally drowns or kills herself, though the assumption is that she does indeed kill herself) is that she dies in a pond in the spring. The artist John Everett Millais decided to focus on the pond in his depiction of her death. Millais was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an English coalition of painters dedicated to being truthful to nature. The Pre-Raphaelites (other founding members include William Hunt and Dante Rossetti) believed that a decline in art had occurred as a result of the Royal Academy’s grip on the art of the day. The Academy chose what style of art to teach, gave advice to artists regarding proper subject matter, and recognized only artists who conformed to the Academy’s definition of art. The Academy especially admired the artwork of Raphael, a Renaissance master. Unlike the Academy, The Pre-Raphaelites believed that in order to revive the art form of painting, painters must look to the masters who came before Raphael, thus the name Pre-Raphaelites. As a Pre-Raphaelite, Millais wanted to depict nature truthfully, so he spent up to eleven hours a day working on the surrounding pond before moving on to Ophelia. Millais paid careful attention to detail and included symbolism in his work. Background flowers include willows representing love, nettle representing pain, daises representing innocence, and pansies representing thought. Millais originally painted daffodils, but painted over them when he discovered that they do not grow in spring. Millais’ model for Ophelia had to endure hours soaking in a bathtub with only candles lit beneath the tub to warm her because Millais wanted to view the best representation of a female floating in water. He paid special attention to how the model’s hair appeared in the water. Millais’ Ophelia is the most popular version of the character. It often draws a crowd at the Tate Gallery in London where it hangs, and for good reason. The detail is incredible. The result of Millais’ hard work is a painting that will be cherished forever.