My Mariana

Not Millais'.

He painted his in 1851, whereas I painted my interpretation of his about 15 years ago.

John Everett Millais was one of the pre-Raphaelite painters who used Shakespeare's play 'Measure for Measure' as inspiration for their art. Mariana is looking all forlorn and solitary - for good reason. When her dowry was lost in a shipwreck, she was rejected by her fiance, Angelo, the judge.

When Millais' painting was first exhibited, it was captioned with the text from Tennyson's poem Mariana:

She only said, My life is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said, I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!


FYI, His was oil on wood, mine is gouache on paper.