I’ve gathered some image references for my UE5 rendering project, drawing inspiration from Millais’s “Ophelia” and a fantasy story I once came across online.
The story is set in Victorian London, where keeping mermaids as pets became fashionable among the wealthy. Affluent families would adorn these mermaids with expensive jewelry and display them at banquets. However, since mermaids couldn’t survive long away from the sea, they eventually perished.
The scene I want to create is set in a decaying, opulent mansion. In the hall at the top of the stairs, a mermaid is kept in a glass tank, weighed down by heavy jewelry. Light streams through the windows, illuminating her aquatic enclosure.