Hanging above my work desk is a painting of a young woman standing beside a wind-tossed sea. Her deep teal dress matches the teal of the waves curling and crashing toward the rocky shore. They are driven by the same powerful wind that scatters her rich-red hair about her face. She’s gazing out to sea, where a magnificent galley is floundering and splitting in the storm as it’s flung against jagged, ebony cliffs. You can almost feel the gale blowing toward you, carrying the scent of another world.
This is John William Waterhouse’s painting “Miranda,” which depicts a key character from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” The name Miranda was invented by Shakespeare, and it means “to be wondered at.”
