Odilon Redon: L’enfant prédestinée, Ophélie

There is a willow grows askant the brookThat shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.Therewith fantastic garlands did she makeOf cornflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,But our cold maids do “dead men fingers” call them.There on the pendant boughs her coronet weedsClamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,When…

John William Waterhouse: Juliet

“Here we see a lovely girl wearing a richly-coloured gown that closely resembles Mariana’s in its cut. Endowed with unusually curly hair (for Waterhouse), Juliet grasps her luxurious blue necklace nervously. She is presented in the full profile perfected by Italian Renaissance artists; for most of the 15th Century, privileged maidens ready to be married…