Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet
© Cecilia Lawrence
April 26th 2018
16x20 inches
Watercolor

JULIET
Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.
Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree.
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

ROMEO
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east.
Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
...
Come death and welcome. Juliet wills it so.
How is ’t, my soul? Let’s talk. It is not day.

JULIET
It is, it is. Hie hence, begone, away!
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
Some say the lark makes sweet division.
This doth not so, for she divideth us.
Some say the lark and loathèd toad changed eyes.
O, now I would they had changed voices too,
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
Hunting thee hence with hunt’s-up to the day.
O, now begone. More light and light it grows.

ROMEO
More light and light, more dark and dark our woes.

JULIET
Then, window, let day in, and let life out.

ROMEO
Farewell, farewell. One kiss and I’ll descend.
~ from Rome and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 3. Scene 5

I did this watercolor painting based on Frank Dicksee's beautiful Romeo and Juliet as a really late graduation/birthday gift for my little sister. She's an English Major (so of course she loves Shakespeare) and she particularly loves Dicksee's painting of everyone's favorite tragic couple. So instead of buying her a print of the painting, I decided to paint her a copy of it (mostly because the odd arched framing of the original annoyed me). Does it count as a master's study if it's not in the same medium as the original? I don't know, but in any case, I suppose that's what this is. I had a really dark picture that I was going off of, so I'm kind of kicking myself that I missed a lot of the tinier details in the painting. And the pillar looks awful. *sighs* Ah well.