Ophelia (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)

Ophelia (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)

Caroline Watson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ophelia appears here, her mind unhinged by the murder of her father and rejection by Hamlet. In Act 4 of Shakespeare's play she appears crowned with weeds and flowers, singing pathetically, and distributing herbs to members of the court whom she no longer recognizes. The related painting by Pine was shown in April 1782, with six other subjects from Shakespeare, at the Great Room in Spring-Gardens with plans announced for engravings "in the chalk manner," by Caroline Watson and Victor Marie Picot. After Pine departed for America, Boydell bought the plates and reissued this version of the print.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ophelia (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)Ophelia (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)Ophelia (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)Ophelia (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)Ophelia (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.