Description of the picture:
Lady of the Shallot – John William Waterhouse. Canvas, oil. 153 x 200 cm
A magnificent art masterpiece was written by brush master John William Waterhouse! The painting was created in the style of the Pre-Raphaelite and romanticism. Its plot is a genre and literary scene.
The picturesque work of art is based on the ballad of the poet A. Tennyson “The Sorceress Shallot”. In the picture, the artist conveyed his personal impressions, feelings and feelings. The narrative of the picture is dramatic and tragic. Girl Elaine dies from an unrequited love for the round table knight Lancelot.
John Waterhouse painted the most dramatic episode on canvas. He used color contrasts, chiaroscuro, tones with intermediate shades, soft and smooth strokes. Autumn sad time evokes melancholy and alarm. Elaine is sailing in a boat to Camelot Castle. She is gripped by deep sorrow and sadness. Her eyes are closed, the world for a girl has turned into darkness. A curse lay on her. She could not leave the castle on the island of Shallot and look out the window of the tower. But once, when she saw in the mirror the knight Lancelot, riding on a horse, she falls in love with him and leaves the gloomy monastery. The mirror is cracking, foreshadowing trouble …
The girl runs to the river, gets into the boat, writes the letters of her name on it and floats to her lover. In her hand she holds a chain symbolizing imprisonment. Elaine is dressed in a white dress, her hair is disheveled, her mouth is ajar. The girl sings her farewell song. A withered leaf lies on her lap, like the dying light of a passing life. A tapestry woven to her hangs from the boat into the water. On it, she embroidered objects of the world that she saw in the mirror. The heroine is gripped by intense mental pain, despair, hopelessness.
She resembles a holy Christian martyr. At the stern of the boat are three candles. Two of them went out in the wind. The artist conveyed in the picture the fatality of the situation, inevitability, spiritual and physical death of the heroine. He paid much attention to landscape in his work. In the distance is visible forest, shrubs, reeds. Nature creates a special poetry of painting. It carries a mysterious mystery.
The artwork is simply brilliant! John Waterhouse worked hard on his canvas. It brought him public recognition, fame and success. The picture gives interesting moments, impressions, feelings and emotions."