#lady of shalott
Destiny (1900), by J.W. Waterhouse
This work was painted by Waterhouse to support the injured soldiers and widows of the British army that fought in the Boer War against South African rebels (1899-1902). More than 300 artworks were sold for a total of 12,000 pound sterling.
The work resembles the 1894 version of The Lady of Shalott, but the red and white dress and blue cup represent the colours of the Union Jack, clearly stating that this is a British lady looking at a departing army that is visible in the mirror.
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The Lady of Shalott (1894), by J.W. Waterhouse
Just like with the previous painting of Ophelia, Waterhouse returned again to an old subject. With The Lady of Shalott, he painted a different episode from the poem by Tennyson (see the blog on the 1888 version for the complete text of the poem).
Here the Lady has taken the decision to disobey the curse and go into the open to look for her beloved Knight Lancelot. Yet a golden thread is bound around her legs, symbolizing that she cannot escape from her fate. The model he used is clearly the same as that for Circe. There is a lot of speculation about who Waterhouse’s models were. Besides one scribbled address on an envelope, no names are sure. On YouTube you can find a nice series on this subject: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4dc1oE7R8A . Highly recommended!
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Walter Crane - The Lady of Shalott
1862 / oil on canvas / 24.1 cm × 29.2 cm / Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, USA)
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“A pale, pale corpse she floated by,
Deadcold, between the houses high”
Tennyson - The Lady of Shallot
My take on this fascinating legend.
The story behind Tennyson’s poem is extremely interesting: he took a piece of medieval arthurian lore which was a simple story about a heroine -Elaine- dying of unrequited love and turned it into something much more complex and meaningful.
Elaine being prisoner of a curse and seeing the world through shadows are elements that are not present in the original tale: it’s a beautiful use of the Maiden in the Tower trope, so naturally Rapunzel comes to mind.
That’s why I imagine the Lady of Shallot as floating down the river, her hair so long that it hides the water below, drowned in the countless stories that she witnessed and wove but never lived.
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Man this was big. The original ink lineart is 100x140 and I had never done anything this big before.
Lineart: brush pen on paper
Colors: GIMP
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A design I made for my interpretation of Elaine of Corbenic. I’ve been told she’s reminiscent of Elaine of Astolat too.
I’ve been trying to do more art for fun, and I’m using this to practice screen tones, patterns and grayscale shading. You’ll see the results next week.
This is amazing!
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Elaine of Astolat
Elaine dies of heartbreak. In accordance with her instructions, her body is placed in a small boat, clutching a lily in one hand, and her final letter in the other. She then floats down the river to Camelot, where she is discovered by King Arthur’s court, who call her ‘a little lily maiden’.
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Mysterious Art Century
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THE LADY OF SHALOTT
‘The Lady of Shalott’ is a lyrical ballad by the English poet Alfred Tennyson. The poem is loosely based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat, as recounted in a 13th-century Italian novellina titled La Damigella di Scalot, or Donna di Scalotta.
According to Tennyson’s version of the legend, the Lady of Shalott was forbidden to look directly at reality or the outside world; instead she was doomed to view the world through a mirror, and weave what she saw into tapestry.
Her despair was heightened when she saw loving couples entwined in the far distance and she spent her days and nights aching for a return to normal. One day the Lady’s mirror revealed Sir Lancelot passing by on his horse. When she impetuously took three paces across the room and looked at him, the mirror cracked and she realised that the curse had befallen her.
The lady escaped by boat during an autumn storm, inscribing ‘The Lady of Shalott’ on the prow. As she sailed towards Camelot and certain death, she sang a lament. Her frozen body was found shortly afterwards by the knights and ladies of Camelot, one of whom is Lancelot, who prayed to God to have mercy on her soul.
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LADY OF SHALOTT FREE EBOOK
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Pedro Neto AW 2017
(Portugal Fashion Backstage)
O Pedro é dos meus actuais designers de eleição. Todo o perfeccionismo é evidente nas suas coleções. Após conversar com ele sobre o seu trajeto e trabalho percebi que a sua dedicação e empenho é superior à de muitos.
O ponto de partida da coleção apresentada no Portugal Fashion é o quadro pré-rafaelita de John Williams Waterhouse - The Lady of Shalott, e a sua história que inspirou na criação de silhuetas românticas. O foco desta coleção seria criar uma ponte entre os pensadores românticos e humanistas do séc. XIX, e uma visão geral e amplificada do fosso social contemporâneo. Daí surgiu o documentário “BARAKA” de 1992.
A mulher é assumidamente romântica, tal como a Lady of Shalott, mas é também uma mulher elegante que sobrevive ao quotidiano dramático na sua imagem contemporânea. O homem é, portanto, o espelho da mulher, fazendo assim a ligação à lenda da Lady of Shalott. Todavia, é simultaneamente um espelho de uma sociedade contemporânea, um homem culto e elegante.
Criando-se assim um contraste artístico entre estes dois polos, a escolha dos tecidos é feita de veludos, pelos curtos, rendas, malha cardada e apontamentos de paiettes e com acabamentos impermeáveis, lurex e plissados irregulares. As silhuetas são cintadas e femininas, mantendo assim a estética visual de uma figura alongada e esguia.
Fotografia de Anita Gonçalves.
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