'The Pained Heart', or 'Sigh No More, Ladies', or 'Juliet and her Nurse' 1872

Arthur Hughes created 'The Pained Heart' showing Juliet with her nurse, a visual rendering of Shakespeare's tragic narrative. The lute, discarded on the floor amidst scattered rose petals, speaks volumes. Historically, the lute symbolizes harmony and romantic serenades, while roses are the emblem of love and beauty. Notice the lute’s abandonment—a stark metaphor for fractured harmony. Such a motif echoes through art history, seen in depictions of Venus disarming, the cessation of music signaling a pivotal shift, often towards sorrow. Even in antiquity, the broken lyre lamented lost love. Here, the visual language communicates Juliet’s emotional and psychological state. The weight of the rose petals—traditionally a symbol of love—now become a lament for the fleeting nature of beauty and happiness. This echoes the perennial human struggle with impermanence. Symbols like the lute and roses resurface cyclically, each era reinterpreting their significance through its own cultural and emotional lens.