John W. Waterhouse.
This is one of several paintings of The Lady of Shalott,
Halfsick of Shadows that Waterhouse did. She was a maiden,
who was forced to live in a tower, on an island. She
passed her time by weaving on a loom. The only contact she
had with the outside world was a reflection from a mirror
that would show scenes from Camelot. One day she saw Sir
Lancelot's reflection in the mirror and fell in love with
him. She dared to leave her tower by boat, headed towards
Camelot. But she died before she reached the
shore.
The Sorceress
Thisbe was a Babylonian maiden who was in love with
Pyramus.
Their parents forbid them to marry. They lived in houses
that were side by side and would secretly speak to each
other through a small hole in the wall. They agreed to meet
in a secret spot. When Pyramus arrived, he thought that
Thisbe had been killed by a lion, when he saw her shawl
ripped up and bloody. So he killed himself. When Thisbe saw
him dead, she killed herself. It is said that their blood
sank into the ground together, into the roots of a mulberry
tree, turning the berries black, to mourn their deaths.
Pysche opening the Golden Box
The Shrine
This is one of 2 Ophelia piantings that Waterhouse did.
Ophelia was a character from Shakespear's Hamlet. She was
slowly driven mad by Hamlet's mistreatment and neglect of
her, and by his murdering her father. She wandered down to
a stream, carrying flowers and drifted into the water and
drowned.
La Belle
Dame Sans Merci
She was a maiden who lived in the forest. She would enchant
young knights who were passing by.
'I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful, a faery's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.'
- John Keats
The Siren
'The sea-nymphs chant their accents shrill;
And the Sirens, taught to kill
With their sweet voice,
Make every echoing rock reply,
Unto their gentle murmuring noise.
Thomas Campion
Wildflowers
The Crystal
This is another Lady of Shalott
'And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance -
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
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.'
Lord Tennyson
Vanity
Lady Clare
For their engagement, Lord Ronald gave Lady Clare the
traditional gift of a lily-white doe. The nurse revealed
that Clare was not the daughter of the Earl, but her own
daughter, whom she substituted when the Earl's real baby
died. Lady Clare put on peasant's garments and said because
of her true birth she was not worthy to marry Lord Ronald.
But he loves her so that he does not care of her truth
birth, and they re married.
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