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Estimate on Request Ophelia Signed and dated 1898-99 lower left indistinctly signed and dated again in the top right corner Watercolour, pastel and pencil laid down on acid-free cardboard; the work is indistinctly signed and dated again in the top right corner 35 by 45 cm. Provenance Sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby’s, 23 April 2001, lot 139, where acquired by the present owner Exhibited Rotterdam, Kunstzalen Unger & Van Mens, Tentoonstelling van Portretten en andere Werken door Antoon van Welie, 25 May - 22 June 1919, no. 27 The Hague, Kunstzaal Kleykamp, Tentoonstelling van Werken van Antoon van Welie, 18 December 1937 - 9 September 1938, no. 10 The Hague, Louis Couperus Museum, Antoon van Welie (1866-1956). Portrettist en Symbolist, 19 June - 16 November 2003 The Hague, Museum Mesdag, Dubbel tentoonstelling Antoon van Welie, 21 June - 7 September 2003 Nijmegen, Museum het Valkenhof, Antoon van Welie; de laatste decadente schilder 1866-1956, 13 April - 12 August 2007 Literature C. Mauclair, Antoon van Welie. Un peintre Hollandais, Paris 1924, plate 76 Exhibition catalogue, Louis Couperus Museum, Antoon van Welie (1866-1956). Portrettist en Symbolist, 2003, p. 14 illustrated K. van Lieverloo and P. Roelofs, Antoon van Welie. De laatste decadente schilder (1866-1956), Zwolle 2007, p. 227 illustrated in colour  Antoon van Welie (1866-1956) is a Dutch Symbolist painter, well known for his portrait works. He was born and raised in a Catholic family in Afferden, a small town in the province of Limburg, in the south of The Netherlands. Van Welie was educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Antwerp, Belgium, from 1886-1887. The same year, he entered a competition held by the Dutch King Willem III. The prize was a not inconsiderable amount of 2.000 francs and a scholarship. Having won the prize, he was able to make the Grand Tour, and travel through Italy, France and Germany, like all great painters of his time In 1895 Van Welie was appointed as a teacher at the ‘Koninklijke School voor Nuttige en Beeldende Kunsten’ in ‘s- Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, and mythical stories, legends and fairytales became the main subjects of his work. This is exemplified by the current lot- Ophelia (1898-1899) – as well as Van Welie’s interpretation of the timeless love story of Tristan and Isolde (1901-1919) and Paolo and Francesca (1896-99). They represent their naturalist interest and taboo topics but in a covered up manner. The stylistic elements Symbolists use are not allegories, but are intended to awaken particular states of the mind. Though the Symbolist movement began in France, Symbolism was an international avant-garde movement that spread across Europe and North America during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Symbolist artists, among of them was Van Welie, were especially inspired by Pre-Raphaelites, such as; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, Edward Burne – Jones and John William Waterhouse. The present lot [insert lot number] is a depiction of a scene from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act IV, Scene VII) in which Ophelia - driven out of her mind when her father is murdered by her lover Hamlet - drowns herself. The story of Ophelia inspired a number of fin de sie?cle artists; Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896) and John William Waterhouse (1894-1917) who preceded Van Welie. “When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide; And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up: Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes; As one incapable of her own distress, Or like a creature native and indued Unto that element: but long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death" - William Shakespeare, Hamlet