Hermione

Known for his many Shakespearian heroines, Dicksee here portrays Queen Hermione from The Winter’s Tale, who reportedly died following the birth of her daughter. As the plays ends, King Leontes and his daughter are brought before a statue of Hermione recently finished, which comes to life. The artist’s challenge is to represent a figure that is neither quite marble nor quite living flesh ... as if trapped in a no man’s land between art and life.