The Lady of Shalott

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The Lady of Shalott

• Presentation by Puja Parekh

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John William Waterhouse

• Born in Rome to William and Isabella Waterhouse
  in 1849
• Studied painting under his father.
• Very little is known about Waterhouse.
• Most famous painting is that of the Lady of
  Shalott.
• Produced 3 paintings on the subject One in 1888,
  1896 and 1916

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The Lady of Shalott

• The Lady of Shalott is a poem written by Alfred
  Lord Tennyson.
• The Lady is thought to be loosely based on Elaine
  of Astolat.
• Tennyson claims that the poem was based on an
  Italian novelette Donna di Scalotta, but there
  are details in the poem not present in the
  novelette.

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The Lady of Shalott

• The Lady was cursed to live in a tower and never
  look out of the window at the world below.
• She kept herself amused by weaving beautiful
  tapestries of the outside scenes she saw
  reflected through the mirror.
• She began to get restless after she saw two
  lovers in the mirror.
• She saw Lancelots reflection in the mirror, fell
  in love and looked out of the window.
• The mirror broke, and she knew she was doomed to
  die.

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(No Transcript)
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On either side the river lie Long fields of
barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet
the sky And through the field the road run by
To many-tower'd Camelot And up and down the
people go, Gazing where the lilies blow Round
an island there below, The island of Shalott.
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By the island in the river Flowing down to
Camelot. Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent
isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott.
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Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on
an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad Goes by to
tower'd Camelot And sometimes through the
mirror blue The knights come riding two and two.
She hath no loyal Knight and true, The Lady of
Shalott. But in her web she still delights To
weave the mirror's magic sights,
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Down she came and found a boat Beneath a willow
left afloat, And around about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott.
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And at the closing of the day She loosed the
chain, and down she lay The broad stream bore
her far away, The Lady of Shalott.
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(No Transcript)
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The Lady of Shalott (1896)
She left the web, she left the loom, She made
three paces through the room, She saw the
water-lily bloom, She saw the helmet and the
plume, She look'd down to Camelot. 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.
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I am half sick of Shadows said the Lady of
Shalott (1916)
But in her web she still delights To weave the
mirror's magic sights, For often through the
silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot Or when the Moon
was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed.
"I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of
Shalott.
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The Lady was also painted by

• Sidney Harold Meteyard
• William Holman Hunt
• William Maw Egley
• Arthur Hughes
• John Atkinson Grimshaw
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti wood engraving
• Elizabeth Siddal Ink on paper