Ophelia

Painted in 1871 and in the Museo del Prado, this depiction of Shakespeare's Ophelia places Rosales within the European tradition of Shakespearean subject painting that had been a staple of Romantic art since the late eighteenth century. Ophelia — Hamlet's doomed beloved, driven to madness and death by the violent events around her — was among the most painted literary subjects of the nineteenth century, from Delacroix's treatment to Millais's celebrated 1852 canvas. Rosales's approach reflects the Spanish Romantic tradition's engagement with Northern European literary culture as well as his direct knowledge of Italian and French treatments of the subject during his Roman years. The 1871 date places this among his late works, and the subject's emotional intensity — a beautiful woman at the moment of mental dissolution — suits the more urgent, gestural handling of his final period.

Rosales's late technique is well-matched to the Ophelia subject: loose, energetic brushwork creates the sense of disordered nature appropriate to the scene of madness and impending death. The figure's dishevelled state — hair loosened, expression unfocused — is reinforced by paint handling that refuses the tight academic finish of his early work. The water or riverside setting is rendered through broad tonal passages rather than detailed description.