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. 

Menkaure and his Queen

I saw this sculpture when I went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts before I learned in a classroom about Egyptian art. As I was visiting the museum with my family, I did not spend as much time in the Egyptian room as I would have liked, but the piece I studied for the longest amount of time was this sculpture, Menkaure and his Queen. Contrary to popular belief, most ancient Egyptian rulers were not pharaohs. The term pharaoh was not used until the New Kingdom (beginning 1550 B.C.E), and Menkaure was an Old Kingdom (beginning 2686 B.C.E) king. Menkaure’s depiction in this sculpture suggests his position.  As in all ancient Egyptian art depicting royalty, Menkaure is portrayed with a rigid stance and his body faces the front. Other signs of Menkaure’s royalty include his headdress and his false beard which are both famous Egyptian symbols of power. Despite his rigid stance Menkaure is demonstrating motion because his left foot is stepping forward. Menkaure is also shown idealistically, with a young face and a toned body. At first glance, it might seem as though the Queen is nude, but she is, in fact, wearing clothing. The clothes are snug against her body purposefully revealing her curves underneath. The Queen is also a point of interest because the Queen displays affection towards Menkaure by wrapping her right arm around him and by touching him with her left arm.  The statue is carved from slate, which was an expensive material at the time. The statue was created for Menkaure’s tomb so that he could use it in the afterlife. One reason that ancient Egyptian art is interesting is because it is not supposed to be unique. For over three thousand years the style of Egyptian art rarely varied. Menkaure and his Queen is a perfect example of what Egyptians wanted in their art. The artist uses a typical canon of proportions to ensure that each part of the figures’ bodies is the correct length. The artist also makes sure that the rigid king and his queen are idealized figures which appear to display the authority they have over Egypt.   Despite being more than five thousand years removed from the creation of this sculpture, I felt an immediate connection to Menkaure and his Queen when I first saw it even though I had not yet learned the rules of Egyptian art, and I did not yet understand that this sculpture and others like it hold an important place in art history. That connection is the power of art. Such a connection is only enhanced with knowledge which is the power of art history.