Ophelia: "There's fennel for you, and columbines" (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5). Artist: After Giovanni Battista Cipriani (Italian, Florence 1727-1785 Hammersmith (active London)). Dimensions: Sheet (trimmed within plate): 13 1/8 × 9 5/16 in. (33.3 × 23.7 cm). Engraver: William Wynne Ryland (British, baptized London 1732-1783 London). Publisher: John Walker (British, active 1776-1802). Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564-1616 Stratford-upon-Avon). Date: 1787.
Ophelia appears here in act 4 of Shakespeare's play, her mind unhinged by her father's murder. Singing and crowned with weeds, she offers herbs and flowers to her brother, the queen and king. Soon after this scene, she will fall into a brook while picking flowers and drown. Ryland's print is based on a drawing by Cipriani.