Classicism1888
The Lady of Shalott
John William Waterhouse
Curator's Eye
"The three candles symbolizing fading life, the crucifix at the prow, and the tapestry recounting her own existence slipping into the water."
A masterpiece of late Romanticism, this canvas captures the tragic moment when Alfred Tennyson's heroine succumbs to her curse for an impossible love.
Analysis
Painted in 1888, this quintessential work by Waterhouse is part of the Victorian medieval revival. The historical context is defined by a fascination with Arthurian legend, seen as a moral sanctuary against rampant industrialization. Waterhouse, though post-Pre-Raphaelite, adopts here a naturalist precision blended with a dreamlike atmosphere. The style is characterized by manic attention to botanical details and a rich palette where earthy tones contrast with the supernatural glow of the white dress.
The mythological explanation rests on Alfred Tennyson's eponymous poem. The Lady of Shalott lives reclusively in a tower, doomed to look at the world only through a mirror to weave a magic web. Anyone who looks directly at Camelot suffers a fatal curse. Upon seeing Sir Lancelot in her mirror, she braves the prohibition, the mirror cracks, and she flees on a boat toward certain death. The psychology of the work is that of transition: the passage from shadow to light, from the safety of isolation to the perilous freedom of love and art.
Waterhouse's technique merges the "plein air" of the Barbizon school with English literary symbolism. The texture of the water, the rendering of the reeds, and the fading light of an autumn afternoon create a tangible melancholy. The artist uses generous impasto for textile details, while the Lady's face expresses an almost ecstatic resignation. It is a meditation on the artist's condition: the Lady dies from having confronted the reality she had previously only represented.
Historically, this canvas represents the pinnacle of the Aesthetic movement where formal beauty and tragic narration meet. The Lady is no longer just a passive victim; she is a figure of rebellion against an imposed fate. The work also analyzes the place of women in Victorian society, locked in "domestic spheres" where emancipation often led, in the imagination of the time, to tragedy.
Recent infrared research has revealed that Waterhouse initially painted the Lady with a much more terrified gaze before opting for the expression of melancholic devotion we know today. A secret lies in the three candles: two are extinguished, signifying her time is almost up, while only one still flickers against the wind. This detail highlights the artist's narrative precision.
A little-known anecdote concerns the model: she is likely Elizabeth Wood, a woman whose melancholic beauty haunted Waterhouse's canvases for years. Unlike other famous Pre-Raphaelite models, she remained in the shadows of art history. Furthermore, the boat used for the painting was actually built and placed in the artist's garden to ensure perfect accuracy of reflections and flotation.
Scientific analyses of the pigments have shown the use of new synthetics like cobalt green, giving the reeds an almost electric hue. Another mystery lies in the tapestry patterns: they illustrate scenes that Waterhouse would later paint as independent works, showing that the artist was already conceiving a complete cycle around the Arthurian cycle long before completing them.
Join Premium.
UnlockQuiz
What is the Lady of Shalott forbidden to do under a mysterious curse?
Discover
