Ophélia

Through the winter of 1851 and into 1852, a young woman named Elizabeth Siddal lay for hours in a bathtub of water in a London studio, fully clothed in a silver-threaded dress Millais had picked up second-hand for four pounds. He kept oil lamps burning under the tub to warm the water, and on one long day he was so absorbed in the work that he let them go out. Siddal caught a bad cold, and her father sent Millais a bill for the doctor. What she was posing for is the drowning of Ophelia from Hamlet, the moment she slips under, still singing, before she sinks. The flowers around her are painted plant by plant from the banks of a small river in Surrey, where Millais worked outdoors up to 11 hours a day for months to get every leaf right. He chose real Ophelia flowers with borrowed meanings, so the poppy floating near her hand carries its old association with sleep and death.