‘I am half sick of shadows,’ said The Lady of Shalott, oil on canvas, roughly 40 x 29 inches (100 x 74 cm). Link is to image on Britannica.com. The original is in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada.
John William Waterhouse, a late 19th century English painter often associated with the Pre-Raphaelites who preceded him, is known in particular for his incredibly beautiful painting of the Lady Of Shalott floating downstream, in which she is depicted in an attempt to get to Camelot after triggering the curse she was under.
Waterhouse also painted another, less well known depiction of the literary figure from Tennyson’s poem, in a setting more like that of William Holman Hunt’s painting, as mentioned in my previous post, Holman Hunt’s The Lady of Shalott.
Waterhouse similarly shows the lady at work on her loom (though quite different from Holman Hunt’s depiction), with her mirror reflecting the outside world, in this case, apparently within sight of Camelot, prior to her doomed attempt to reach it in search of Lancelot.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror’s magic sights,
For often thro’ the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, came from Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead
Came two young lovers lately wed;
‘I am half sick of shadows,’ said
The Lady of Shalott.
I love comparing different artists’ takes on the same scene or subject.
