Hamlet’s Ophelia Cross Stitch Pattern

Description

Hamlet’s Ophelia cross stitch is a replica of a dramatic painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais. The 1852 artwork portrays the drowning Ophelia sinking slowly to her death, still clutching a garland of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples.

The Project

This is a close replica of the original painting and creates an outstanding finished piece. BUT. Be warned. This is a massive cross stitch that measures more than 1 metre across the widest point (stitched on 14 count Aida cloth). And the pattern itself spans 78 A4 pages (portrait).

There is also A LOT of confetti and thread changes required to recreate the fine details of Ophelia’s silvery gown and the textures of the trees, flowers, and water foliage. We recommend using Pattern Keeper to manage this complex project.

PLEASE NOTE: Your download pack contains an extra chart that has been specially formatted for Pattern Keeper App.

The Painting

Ophelia, is the signature work of John Everett Millais and resides at the Tate Gallery in London. Here is an extract from the gallery website:

“At the time Millais was painting, it was common for artists to work outside to produce sketches. They then took these back to their studio and used them as reference to create a larger finished painting. However, Millais and his Pre-Raphaelite friends completed the actual paintings outside in the open air, which was unusual for the time.

Millais did not give himself as long to paint the figure of Ophelia as he did to paint the landscape. Traditionally, the landscape was often considered the less important part of painting and therefore painted second. Millais and the Pre-Raphaelites believed the landscape was of equal importance to the figure, and so for Ophelia, it was painted first.”

Tate, London

What’s really interesting is the way Millais approached the model’s poses. His muse was a young woman of 19 years old, dressed in a finely embroidered gown and immersed in a bath (warmed by oil lamps placed underneath). The artist, so engrossed in his work, often forgot the reality of the situation and  allowed the heating lamps to extinguish.

The girl became extremely sick due to the to prolonged exposure to temperature extremes and was put in the care of an expensive, private doctor. She made a full recovery but Millais was required to pay more than 50 medical bills at the directive of the girl’s father.

The Artist

John Everett Millais was part of the Pre-Raphaelite English painters and lived from 1829 – 1896. Millais was a child prodigy, and was already studying with the Royal Academy by age 11. He is famous for his gorgeous paintings of literary characters, religion and mythology. If you love large, full coverage projects like Hamlet’s Ophelia cross stitch, browse our category dedicated to the artworks of Millais.

Additional information