Lady of Shalott is a JW Waterhouse painting from the 19th century and is well worth close inspection thanks to the technical qualities of its creators and also the interesting subject which is depicted here.
Lady of Shalott is a JW Waterhouse painting from the 19th century and is well worth close inspection thanks to the technical qualities of its creators and also the interesting subject which is depicted here. Waterhouse was an artist who liked to take existing literature and use it as inspiration for his work, with the source of this painting coming from a poem of the same name. In the poem there is talk of the female character setting off down the river in a small boat in search of Lancelot with who she was in love. Sadly he did not feel the same way, so there is some sadness around the scene.
The female character is joined in her boat by several candles, most of which have already blown out. This symbolises the impending doom that surrounds her love for another who is simply not interested and candles were used in this symbolic way in many paintings across the 19th century. The mood for the painting is set perfectly by the stylish countryside which surrounds the river as she makes her way forward. Waterhouse also includes impressive detail to the boat and its contents which is crucial in getting across the true feeling of what this scene would have been like in real life.
Waterhouse continued this familiar style into many other paintings and so fans of Lady of Shalott should take the time to see other examples of his works which feature mystical scenes based on literature extracts as well as commonly focusing on a female in search of something, or perhaps just in deep thought. This summarises the common themes of most Pre-Raphaelite artists.
The conclusion can be drawn that Lady of Shalott is a particularly important painting from an artist whose career was right at the forefront of the Pre-Raphaelite movement which believed in the freedom of expression of an artist. Waterhouse’s own creativity could take literature and turn it into incredible visual feasts and Lady of Shalott is probably the very best example of this of all. The best sign of its popularity is the huge number of reproductions which are made of it every single year as the reputation of this painting within Waterhouse’s career shows no sign of waning. Waterhouse’s reputation as an artist is particularly strong within the UK and US where most of his original paintings are available on permanent display with major national art galleries and museums.
