I would like to welcome Poppy form The History Cupboard onto the blog today.
For some years now, as an avid fan of both history and art, I have
been fascinated by a group of young Victorian artists who dared to break the
rules of the known art establishment. During their time, they were seen as
radical, only admired by those few who could recognise their creative genius
and individuality. At times they shocked, at others they stunned, and, like any
rebels, their lives were surrounded by scandal. But today they are recognised
the world over as a group of forward thinking artists, who found themselves lost
in the stiff boundaries of 19th century Britain.
When I was kindly given the chance to write a guest post here, I
couldn’t resist the opportunity to link the subject of this blog, Arthurian
legend, and my great love for the Pre-Raphaelites! Luckily, the Pre-Raphaelites
were inspired by these ancient tales, and produced numerous artworks based upon
them. But let’s start at the beginning, and discover who the Pre-Raphaelites
actually are?
Their story began in September 1848. Five young bohemian artists, Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, James Collinson
and Frederick George Stephens, along with sculptor Thomas Woolner and writer
William Michael Rossetti, met in London, at the studio of Millais. Through
their mutual ideas of creating meaningful art, they had found each other, and
they desired to create and paint in a way that was unlike anything being
produced by many Victorian artists emerging from the Royal Academy. Victorian
art had become meaningless and artificial, and together, they wanted to take
the world by storm and dare to do it differently. Truth to their subject was
their main cause. Inspired by the writings of art critic John Ruskin and the
works of Medieval artists, the group wished to bring life back into art. They
discovered their unique style by looking back to artworks produced before the
famous Renaissance artist Raphael (hence the name of the group!). They wished
to reimagine the lost style of the Medieval masterpieces which they so admired,
where artworks were displayed in a technicolour that jumped off of the canvas.
To realise their aspirations, they formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Here are just a few examples of the most recognisable
Pre-Raphaelite artworks:
‘Ophelia’ by John Everett
Millais, 1851-52
‘Beata Beatrix’ by Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, c.1864-70
‘The Golden Stairs’ by
Edward Burne-Jones, 1880
Following their founding, the original Brotherhood soon welcomed
other artists into their circle, and their influence continued into the 20th
century. They produced hundreds of artworks, filled with the meaning that they
had so wished to convey. Through tales of mythology, Shakespeare and poetry,
the artists lead us through a magical world, and one of these world’s is that
of Arthurian legend.
And no Arthurian tale quite captured the Pre-Raphaelites’
imagination than that of Elaine of Astolat. Although she was first mentioned by
Sir Thomas Malory in his Morte d’Arthur
in the 15th century, she was later to be immortalised in Alfred,
Lord Tennyson’s famed poem, The Lady of
Shalott. Very few similarities are held between the two accounts, all but
the tragic love that poor Elaine holds for Sir Lancelot, a theme that the
Pre-Raphaelites were obsessed with.
“Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.”
The Lady of Shalott, doomed by a deadly
curse, finds herself trapped inside the walls of a tower on the Isle of Shalott,
where she has spent the entirety of her young life. Denied of the opportunity
to discover the outside world, she is forced to content herself with viewing
its reflection in a mirror. From these ‘shadows’, she weaves a beautiful
tapestry of the happenings she has witnessed. Her days pass by uneventfully in
her prison, until she sights Sir Lancelot, whose tuneful singing reaches her
ears. Unable to resist temptation, the young lady turns away from her tapestry,
and looks down to Camelot, from which direction Lancelot is approaching. Having
lived for so many years without knowledge of how her curse will take hold, she
finally unleashes it simply by taking a glance at the real world.
“Out flew the web and
floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.”
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.”
Realising there is more to life than
her solitary existence, the Lady of Shalott escapes her prison, an act which
ultimately leads to her death. Boarding a boat, on which she carves her name,
she floats down the river towards Camelot, where she hopes to view life in its
true colours, not merely as ‘shadows of the world’. But she never quite makes
it that far in life, dying on her voyage, the curse having doomed her to death.
“Lying, robed in
snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right—
The leaves upon her falling light—
Thro' the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.”
That loosely flew to left and right—
The leaves upon her falling light—
Thro' the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.”
Easily the most famous depiction of the
Lady of Shalott is that by John William Waterhouse. He was truly fascinated by
the poem, depicted it several times in his paintings. But this is the most
famous one:
‘The Lady of Shalott’ in
the boat by John William Waterhouse, 1888
The Lady of Shalott is seen here
embarking upon her journey down river, sitting upon the tapestry that has been
her life's dedication. She’s finally breaking free from the chains that have
held her trapped for so long.
The other Pre-Raphaelites that studied
this tale also portrayed her as a lady trapped and wearied by her toilsome
life. The sadness that the Lady of Shalott feels is a feature that all of these
paintings share.
Sidney Harold Meteyard’s painting is
perhaps the most sorrowful of all. You can see just how wearied she has become
of seeing life through a reflection, rather than firsthand. The colours chosen
by Meteyard add to the sorrow the Lady of Shalott is feeling.
“I’m Half Sick of Shadows”by Sidney Harold Meteyard, 1913
Hunt’s interpretation, however,
depicts the Lady of Shalott towards the end of her struggle, when she is
beginning to build the courage to escape from her imprisonment. Entangled in
the threads of her tapestry, the curse is trying with all its might to stop her
from escaping. She is attempting in vain to untangle herself. The scattered
irises lying at her feet symbolise her strength and courage to fight against
her imminent doom.
‘The
Lady of Shalott’ by William Holman Hunt, 1888
Perhaps the least known of
the Lady of Shalott's incarnations is that drawn by Elizabeth Siddal, herself a
woman who toiled with sadness all her life. Her interpretation is a simple
drawing, but through it, we can clearly see the story panning out. Siddal decided
to depict the moment when the Lady of Shalott turns towards the window, and
feels the sun beat down upon her face for the first time. The way the tapestry
is flying out is dramatic, greatly contrasting with the Lady’s seemingly calm
and composed manner. Perhaps she is thinking of how much of her life has been
wasted away imprisoned in her tower?
Although the Lady of Shalott's story is
most common among the Arthurian tales depicted by the Pre-Raphaelites as a
whole, individual artists chose many different and varied scenes to paint.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s are amongst my
favourites - they’re just so colourful! Rossetti was a great fan of Sir Thomas
Malory’s Morte d'Arthur, and in both of the following paintings, he
chooses to focus on the quest for the Holy Grail.
‘How
Sir Galahad, SirBors and Sir Percival Were Fed with the Sanct Grael;
but Sir Percival’s SisterDied by the Way’ by Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
1864
This first example shows three knights
of the Round Table, Sir Galahad, son of Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival, and Sir
Bors, receiving the Holy Grail. Lying on the ground besides them is Sir
Percival’s dead sister, who forfeited her pure young life to save a woman who
could only be saved by the blood of a virgin. Rossetti has masterfully merged
these two tales to form one story of faith and purity.
The three knights were the first to lay
eyes on the Holy Grail, which was said to have been used by Jesus Christ at the
Last Supper, and to have contained his blood following the Crucifixion. Many
knights had attempted to discover the whereabouts of the Holy Grail, but it was
only the pure Sir Galahad who could allow for such a venture to occur.
The second of Rossetti's artworks also depicts the Holy Grail, this time solely featuring the damsel who is briefly mentioned as handing over the Holy Grail to Sir Galahad, Sir Percival and Sir Bors, in Morte d'Arthur. Rossetti greatly romanticises and exaggerates the damsel’s role in Arthurian legend, but it’s such a beautiful image it just has to be included here!
‘The Damsel of Sanct Grael’ by Dante Gabriel
Rossett.
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So with this sad ending, portayed in
the grandest of all Arthurian Pre-Raphaelite artworks, my post is now at its
end. Thank you Mary Ann Yarde for allowing me to write here at your lovely
blog, and I hope I may have enlightened you all about the artworks of the
Pre-Raphaelites, and how they used their talents to give life to ancient
Arthurian legend!
‘The Last Sleep of
Arthur at Avalon’ by Edward Burne-Jones
Refrence:
All images can be found in the public domain.
