Ophelia

To differentiate themselves from Neoclassicism, Romantic artists sought new sources of inspiration in the literature and world of fantasy peculiar to each country. Following the painters, Romantic sculptors drew on such sources as Dante, Shakespeare, Tasso and Ariosto, as well as contemporary novelists.

Pr�ault’s Ophelia with the body in disarray, the moving tortured face, floating in water which cannot be distinguished from her hair and the robes enveloping her, follows a principle of equation which is already symbolist.