Ophelia – Head Study 1852

This graphite drawing, "Ophelia - Head Study" (1852), by Sir John Everett Millais, is a study for the artist’s famous painting of the same subject. Millais was a leading figure in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Ophelia, the tragic character from Shakespeare’s *Hamlet*, was a popular subject in Victorian art, and Millais’s study captures the serene beauty and mournful passivity of this ill-fated heroine. The delicate shading and the gentle curve of her neck suggest the finality of Ophelia’s drowning death.