The scene depicted is from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act IV, Scene vii, in which Ophelia, driven out of her mind when her father is murdered by her lover

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The scene depicted is from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act IV, Scene vii, in which Ophelia, driven out of her mind when her father is murdered by her lover Hamlet, drowns herself in a stream: Her clothes spread wide / And mermaidlike awhile they bore her up / Which Eme she chanted snatches of old tunes / As one incapable of her own distress To make the pathos of the scene visible to make people feel sympathy of sadness Millais depicted every detail with feeling and Each reed swaying in the water, every leaf and flower are the product of direct and exaceng observaeon of nature Ophelia lies back her mouth open in song her last breath/words upon red young lips Her garment rise up as her waist begins to sink, yet she looks as fresh as the flowers that float alongside her. The flowers too will sink into the murky water She seem to be floaEng backwards, away from us and into the dense forest that shades the stream not the flowers on the right and the dead brush on the lem which she moves towards as she moves towards death Although the scene is ficEEous and would have been rejected by his realist counterparts, Millais worked hard to present it with commitment to visual fact by paineng along the Hogsmill River in Surrey. For the figure of Ophelia he had a friend lie in a bath tub for hours at a Eme The paineng received much praise when the painter exhibited it in the EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE in Paris in 1855 the same exhibieon at which Courbet set up his PAVILLION REALISM 3

In La Vita Nuova Dante portrays himself as a poet capevated by an unayainable love personified by Beatrice. AMer Beatrice's death Dante, who cannot overcome his lingering love for her, resolves to express his love through his art. This paineng portrays the literary figure, Beatrice, from Dante s Vita Nuova, as she overlooks Florence in a trance amer being mysecally transported to heaven. Rosse] illustrates Beatrice's transcendence by uelizing limited tonal contrasts, blurred transieons between forms, and Beatrice's refleceve, devoeonal pose Beata Beatrix also commemorates the death of his wife, Elizabeth Siddal, in a manner paralleling Dante and Beatrice s relaeonship. Rose] idealized his wife but only express his love through art In Beata Beatrix Rosse] gave symbolic expression to his personal reaceon to the loss of his wife. Rosse] presents a remote, idealized love that he longs for yet cannot ayain unel, like Dante, he dies and is then transcended to the Garden of Eden where he will be reunited with his ideal love. The red dove is a messenger of both love and death The dove deposits a poppy symbolic of sleep and death in her hands. Siddal died of an opium overdose Adding to the spiritual nature is the light. Its light is not the light of sunshine itself, but of sunshine diffused through coloured glass. The result is that the paineng seems illuminated out of its own materials, and not from some imagined realisec source of light. In the background a sundial reminds us of the passing of Eme of the lover waieng to be reunited with his love Separated by Eme are the figures of Beatrice and Dante, the sun dial marks the hour of her death The city in the background is meant to be Florence but could easily be London 4

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The Neo- Gothic style became popular around the same Eme as RomanEcism Because the Industrial revolueon was flooding the market with cheaply made and ill designed commodiees, and machine work was replacing handi- cram, many saw a necessity in restoring the old aresanship of eras such as the middle age when grand building were built by hand labor The art criec Pugin saw moral purity and spiritual authenecity in the religious architecture of the middle ages, and honored them for the honesty and quality they embodied The house of Parliament was rebuilt in the Gothic spirit amer in burnt down in 1834 The design and layout of the building were thus carefully designed to serve the needs and workings of Parliament. In parecular, Barry placed the locaeon of the Sovereign's throne, the Lords Chamber and the Commons Chamber in a straight line, thus linking the three elements of Parliament in conenuous form. As result the building does rise verecally like the Gothic churches, nor does it have flying buyresses, but has a axial plan that is horizontal and regular, which is set off by the Neo- Gothic tower: Big Ben (clock), and the victoria tower The Gothic influence is especially strong in the ornamentaeon of the exterior, which includes large expanses of glass offset by strong verecal lines 6

John Nash was well known in England for his Neoclassical architecture. However, when the prince regent (later King George IV), asked him to build a pleasure palace in the seaside town of Brighton Nash could not use architecture based on raeonality and reason. For a palace that would serve as a royal getaway, Nash turned to the RomanEcist interest in the exoec At this Eme Britain was expanding as an Imperial Empire, which exposed ciezens and arests alike to the exoec cultures and aresec styles of India As a result of the RomanEcist focus on the exoec, and the cultural influences of Imperialism, Nash created an fantasecal exterior that is a conglomeraeon of Islamic domes, minarets and screens This style is referred to as Indian Gothic because of it s Indian architectural elements and it s use of glass, strong verhcal elements and detailed pajerned ornamentahon 7

The crystal palace is a testament to industry and innovaeon during the industrial revolueon, Steel became available amer 1860 as a building material that would enable architects to create new designs involving vast enclosed spaces Adverse to the appearance to new technologies many architects hid the steel skeletons of their structures with concrete an more tradieonal- looking architectural elements. Others however, embraced it and made the steel a intricate part of the buildings aestheec This is called undraped construchon The Crystal Palace, an expansive exhibieon hall, was designed to hold the Great ExhibiEon of 1851, which showcased the works of industry Made of pre- fabricated iron and glass parts, workers were able to put up the building in less than 6 months and take it down shortly amer the exhibieon While the material were not tradieonal, the plan was tradieonal. Thus Paxton brought a new aestheec to a familiar form The plan is a central, flat- roof nave with a barrel vault transept providing ample interior place to display machinery, working fountains and giant tress A beacon of innovaeon, the glass building gliyered in the park like crystal 8

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Portraiture was an important economic opportunity for photographers Nadar was a novelist, journalist, and caricature arests who also enjoyed balloon transportaeons He first began using photography as sources for his caricatures but quickly discovered and talent and opened a portraiture studio He became renowned for pu]ng his subjects at ease and capturing their essence As a result he had a client list that included Delacroix, Daumier, Courbet and Manet, all who sought to be captured for eternity as their greatest selves Here we see Delacroix at the height of his career, he is a serious, confident and commanding figure In 1862 the French court decided that photographs were indeed works of art, and to commemorate the moment Daumier made the above cartoon of Nadar, showing Nadar and his photography as elevated Note that Nadar was a balloon travel enthusiast and the first to photograph Paris from an aerial view 10

The Realist photographer moved to California from England in the 1850s In 1872 the Governor of California sought his assistance of seyling a bet about whether all for feet of a horse lem the ground at once when galloping. Muybridge proved they work by taking a series of moeon photographs of the horse, which captured details to quick for the human eye to freeze This series quickly turned into a study of moeon which was published as a book Animal Locomo5on in 1887 thus he became renown in the world of art and science To show his studies Muybridge invented the zoopraxiscope, which allowed him to project images on the wall in rapid succession thus giving the illusion of moeon this machine gave birth to cinema Muybridge s study of moeon would have a profound effect of modern arests such as the Futurists and Duchamp 11