“Ophelia” Sir John Everett Millais- 1851-1852
About the painter?
- John Everett Millais was an English painter and illustrator.
- Millais was born in Southampton on the 8th June 1829 and was the son of John William Millais, a wealthy
gentleman from an old Jersey family. His mother's family were prosperous saddlers.
- Considered a child prodigy, he came to London in 1838.
- He was sent to Sass's Art School, and won a silver medal at the Society of Arts at the age of nine.
- In 1840 he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools as their youngest ever student.
- At the Royal Academy he became friendly with fellow student William Holman Hunt, and contributed with
Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti to the Cyclographic Society. In 1848 the three helped form the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
- His first Pre-Raphaelite painting was Isabella (1848-9) which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849.
- In 1855 he married Effie Chalmers, with whom he had fallen in love while he was holidaying with the Ruskins
in Scotland. The couple settled in Perth, where he painted Autumn Leaves (1855-6, City of Manchester Art
Galleries).
What inspired the painting?
It’s a painting based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which Hamlet’s lover, Ophelia, goes insane with grief after she
discovers that Hamlet has murdered her father; in her distraught state, she eventually falls into a brook and drowns.
John painted Ophelia in two separate settings : by the Hogsmill River in Surrey and inside his Gower Street studio in
London. Millais and his Pre-Raphaelite friends completed their paintings outside in the open air, which inspired
Millais to paint directly from nature itself with great attention to detail.
What is the significance of this painting?
Millais chose to focus on this positive note rather than on the bleakness of the situation, and made the scene beautiful
and bright, suggesting that death doesn’t have to be dismal. In the painting, Ophelia is surrounded by vivid flowers and
plants, symbols of vitality , and her body seems to be one with the water. While many other artists painted Ophelia
before and after, it was almost always to capture the moments before her fall and yet in Millais’ version of the painting,
captures the true “beauty” of Earth’s course when something/someone dies. Essentially, Millais wants his audience to
see death as a natural thing that should not always be seen in a negative way.
Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Ophelia’s role in the play revolves around her relationships with three men. She is the daughter of Polonius, the sister of
Laertes, and up until the beginning of the play’s events, she has also been romantically involved with Hamlet. Ophelia’s
relationships with these men restrict her agency and eventually lead to her death.
About the painter?
- John Everett Millais was an English painter and illustrator.
- Millais was born in Southampton on the 8th June 1829 and was the son of John William Millais, a wealthy
gentleman from an old Jersey family. His mother's family were prosperous saddlers.
- Considered a child prodigy, he came to London in 1838.
- He was sent to Sass's Art School, and won a silver medal at the Society of Arts at the age of nine.
- In 1840 he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools as their youngest ever student.
- At the Royal Academy he became friendly with fellow student William Holman Hunt, and contributed with
Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti to the Cyclographic Society. In 1848 the three helped form the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
- His first Pre-Raphaelite painting was Isabella (1848-9) which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849.
- In 1855 he married Effie Chalmers, with whom he had fallen in love while he was holidaying with the Ruskins
in Scotland. The couple settled in Perth, where he painted Autumn Leaves (1855-6, City of Manchester Art
Galleries).
What inspired the painting?
It’s a painting based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which Hamlet’s lover, Ophelia, goes insane with grief after she
discovers that Hamlet has murdered her father; in her distraught state, she eventually falls into a brook and drowns.
John painted Ophelia in two separate settings : by the Hogsmill River in Surrey and inside his Gower Street studio in
London. Millais and his Pre-Raphaelite friends completed their paintings outside in the open air, which inspired
Millais to paint directly from nature itself with great attention to detail.
What is the significance of this painting?
Millais chose to focus on this positive note rather than on the bleakness of the situation, and made the scene beautiful
and bright, suggesting that death doesn’t have to be dismal. In the painting, Ophelia is surrounded by vivid flowers and
plants, symbols of vitality , and her body seems to be one with the water. While many other artists painted Ophelia
before and after, it was almost always to capture the moments before her fall and yet in Millais’ version of the painting,
captures the true “beauty” of Earth’s course when something/someone dies. Essentially, Millais wants his audience to
see death as a natural thing that should not always be seen in a negative way.
Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Ophelia’s role in the play revolves around her relationships with three men. She is the daughter of Polonius, the sister of
Laertes, and up until the beginning of the play’s events, she has also been romantically involved with Hamlet. Ophelia’s
relationships with these men restrict her agency and eventually lead to her death.
