Ophelia is an 1894 oil on canvas painting by the English painter John William Waterhouse, depicting a character in William Shakespeare's drama Hamlet. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, a potential wife for Prince Hamlet. In the 1894 version Ophelia is depicted, in the last moments before her death, sitting on a willow branch extending out over a pond of lilies. Her royal dress strongly contrasts with her natural surroundings. Waterhouse has placed flowers on her lap and in her hair, tying her into her natural surroundings.
See also List of paintings by John William Waterhouse Ophelia, a painting of 1851–52 by John Everett Millais
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