Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais Bt PRA (1829-96). 1851-52. Watercolour on paper. 76.2 cm x 101.6 cm. By kind permission of Peter Nahum at the Leicester Galleries. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
In the watercolour version of Millais's famous oil painting, her robe is white rather than dark brackish brown, and almost merges with the water. This picks up the white of the flowering shrub on the bank, so that she seems part of nature in a slightly different way — more virginal, more pathetic perhaps.
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Related Material
- Ophelia (oil painting)
- Head study for Ophelia (pencil)
- Other representations of Ophelia
- Textualizing and Screening Pre-Raphaelite Paintings in Lisa Klein's and Clare McCarthy’s Ophelia
Bibliography
The Pre-Raphaelites. London: Tate Gallery/Allen Lane, 1984. No. 40: 96-97.
Created 2 March 2026