Ophelia ("And He Will Not Come Back Again")

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Ophelia ("And He Will Not Come Back Again")

Artist Arthur Hughes (British, 1832-1915)

Place of OriginEngland

Dateabout 1865

DimensionsPainting: 37 1/4 × 23 1/8 in. (94.6 × 58.7 cm)
Frame: 46 1/4 × 33 × 1 1/4 in. (117.5 × 83.8 × 3.2 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1952.87

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 32

Label TextThe sad madness and death of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet was a favorite subject of the group of British artists who called themselves the Pre-Raphaelites. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which included William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, frequently depicted literary subjects, placing an emphasis on emotional and symbolic content. Though not an original member of the Pre-Raphaelites, Arthur Hughes embraced their aims. Hughes shows Ophelia as a melancholy young woman with piercing blue eyes and flowing red hair. In her madness, she is gathering flowers to hang on the willow tree; she will soon slip into the stream and drown. Hughes includes the same flowers and plants that Shakespeare chose for their symbolic meanings. The willow stood for sadness and forsaken love, the daisy for innocence, and the violets around Ophelia’s wrist for faithfulness. The little blue forget-me-nots in the grass are an appropriate addition, though Shakespeare does not include them. Hughes adds another significant flower not mentioned by Shakespeare: red poppies, symbolic of death.Published ReferencesFlaizik, John N., "Pictorial Literature," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 3, no. 2, Spring 1960, p. 42, repr. p. 43.

Bennett, M., "A Check List of Pre-Raphaelite Pictures Exhibited at Liverpool 1846-1867 and some of their Northern Collectors,: Burlington Magazine, CV, Nov. 1963, p. 495, n. 67.

Apollo, vol. 79, no. 28, June 1964, p. 513.

Preston, Stuart, "Pre-Raphaelites in New York," Apollo, vol. 79, no. 28, June 1964, p. 513.

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Detroit Institute of Arts, Romantic Art in Britain: Paintings and Drawings 1760-1860, 1968, p. 33.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pg. 82, pl. 334.

Poulson, Christine, "A Checklist of Pre-Raphaelite Illustrations of Shakespeare's Plays," Burlington vol. 122, no. 925, April 1980, p. 249.

Roberts, Leonard and Mary Virginia Evans, " 'Sweets to the Sweet': Arthur Hughes's Versions of Ophelia," Journal of Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic Studies, vol. I, no. 2, Fall 1988, pp. 27-36, fig. 6 and frontispiece (col.).

Sullivan, K.E., Pre-Raphaelites: Romantic, Passionate and Visionary, New York, 1996, p. 32, repr. p. 33 (col.).

Roberts, Leonard, Arthur Hughes: His Life and Works, Woodbridge, 1997, no. 67, pp. 163-164, pl. 48 (col.) p. 84.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 36, repr. (col.) and (det.).

Rhodes, Kimberly, Ophelia and Victorian Visual Culture: Representing Body Politics in the Nineteenth Century, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2008, pp. 109, 111, 123, nos. 71, 125, no. 83, fig. 3.9, p. 110.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 36, repr. (col.) and (det.).

Torpy, Janet, M.D., ed., Journal of the American Medical Association, 2011, p. 803, repr. (col.), cover and p. 803.

Exhibition HistoryLiverpool Academy, 1867, no. 95.

Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Grand Loan Exhibition of Pictures, 1886, no. 1176.

Lawrence, University of Kansas Museum of Art, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his Circle, 1958.

Indianapolis, Herron Museum of Art, The Pre-Raphaelites, 1964, no. 41, repr.

Gallery of Modern Art, New York, N.Y. 1964.

Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Victorian Artists in England, 1965, no. 58.

Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Museum of Art, English Revivalism 1750-1870: The Aesthetic of Nostalgia, 1968, repr.

Wilmington, Delaware Art Museum, The Pre-Raphaelite Era 1848-1914, 1976, p. 53, nos. 3-9, repr. p. 52.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Artist as Narrator: Nineteenth Century Narrative Art in England and France, 2005, no. 46, p. 23, repr. p. 25 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Shakespeare's Characters: Playing the Part, September 2, 2016-January 8, 2017.