Ophelia, c.1851/52 Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Sir John Everett Millais also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting Ophelia is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

After adding your artwork to the shopping cart, you will be able to check the delivery price using the Estimate Shipping and Tax tool.

The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

John Everett Millais’s "Ophelia" is a vivid tableau of beauty and tragedy, capturing Shakespeare’s ill-fated heroine in her final moments. The scene is lush, almost overwhelming, with nature pressing in on every side, a green wilderness of life teeming around a girl who is fading away. Millais painted every leaf, every blade of grass, with meticulous care - a testament to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's commitment to intense realism. It's as if you can feel the damp, heavy air, the kind that makes everything feel thick and alive. Yet, within this abundance of life, Ophelia drifts, weightless, caught in a moment between life and death.

The colors are hypnotic - deep greens and murky browns dominate the canvas, grounding the viewer in this darkly enchanting riverbank. Millais has thrown punches of color into the mix: the red of poppies, the purples and blues of violets, and, most tellingly, the scattering of tiny white daisies near Ophelia’s hand. These flowers aren’t mere decoration; each one is chosen with purpose. The daisies symbolize innocence, the violets suggest faithfulness or chastity, and the poppies allude to sleep or death. Millais has transformed a simple riverbank into a visual poetry of symbols, each petal adding to the narrative weight of Ophelia’s story.

Ophelia herself lies suspended in the water, her mouth slightly open, her eyes half-lidded. Millais has captured her with such softness that she seems to breathe, even as we know she is sinking. Her hands float, almost in prayer, as if she is one with the water, her skin as pale and delicate as the petals around her. The contrast between her stillness and the riot of life around her makes her appear almost ghostly - already part of another world. The river, painted in swirling, muddy hues, reflects her descent into madness and loss, cradling her in a melancholy embrace.

Millais’s technique is painstakingly precise, each brushstroke revealing textures so tangible they verge on tactile. His choice of composition, with Ophelia’s body positioned horizontally across the canvas, draws the viewer’s eye along the length of her form, leading us to the quiet, inevitable conclusion at the edge of the frame. This is a painting not merely to be seen but to be experienced - a tragic, beautiful moment frozen forever in oil and canvas.