Stephen Hannock at Marlborough Gallery

Ophelia, who lost her life by drowning in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is transported to a North American landscape in recent work by Stephen Hannock at Marlborough Gallery.  An homage to the artist’s late wife whose ill health took away her freedom, Hannock’s Ophelia series draws on John Everett Millais’ famous painting of Ophelia and Thomas Cole’s renowned 1836 depiction of the Connecticut River’s oxbow.  Together, tragic individual experience merges with the sublime and healing possibility of nature.  (On view through July 2nd.  Masks and social distancing required).

Blue Water with Ophelia Rising (Mass MoCA #328), polished mixed media on canvas, 23 x 18 ½ inches, 2021.