Tate | Work In Focus: Millais's Ophelia

Painting in the Studio

Millais did not give himself as long to paint the figure for Ophelia as he did to paint the landscape. It was unusual for the landscape to be painted before the figure. The landscape was often considered the less important part of painting and therefore painted second. This is not what Millais and his Pre-Raphaelite friends believed. They thought that the landscape was of equal importance to the figure.

Millais started work on the figure of Ophelia inside his studio at Gower Street as soon as he returned to London in December 1851. He worked on the figure until the end of March 1852.

He wrote to his friend Mr Combe on January 9th about his progress. "I have been working most determinedly since Christmas, but (curiously) with little effect. I have given up all visiting, so I cannot be accused on that score of giving little evidence of progress. Next week I hope to sail into a kind of artistic trade-wind, which will carry me on to the Exhibition."
(The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, John Guille Millais, vol. 1, 1899, p.155). View an easel used by Millais in his studio from 1883.

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