William Holman Hunt’s
The Lady of Shalott
Hunt Biography
Born 1827- Died 1910, British painter and
founder of the Pre-Rafaelite Brotherhood
with Rosetti and Milais. They sought to
portray a detailed observation of the natural
world with a religious devotion to truth.
Highly influenced by medieval art, partly
because it removed them from the problems
and “ugliness” of the industrial world.
Hunt received early fame for naturalistic
paintings of rural life and for his religious
paintings. Noted for their attention to detail,
vivid color, and elaborate symbolism.
Influenced by Ruskin and Carlyle and the
belief that the world could be interpreted as
a system of visual signs.
His last major work, The Lady Of Shalott,
was completed with the help of assistants
because of Hunt’s failing sight.
Based on Tennyson’s 1842
poem, loosely based on
Malory’s Mort d’ Arthur and
the Italian novelette Donna di
Scalotta, about Elaine of
Astolat who falls in love with
Lancelot and dies of unrequited
love.
In the poem, the Lady lives on an
island near Camelot , cursed to
never look directly at Camelot,
but view the world in a mirror and
weave what she sees in a magic
web. One day, she sees
Lancelot riding toward Camelot,
and realizes how sick she is of
seeing the world through
shadows and reflections.
Temptation gets the best of
her and she looks out the
window toward Lancelot,
bringing the curse upon
her. She leaves the tower
and finds a boat, upon
which she writes her name,
and drifts toward Camelot,
dying as she sings her
mournful song
Hunt’s painting depicts the climatic
moment the Lady looks toward
Lancelot, and is cursed….
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.
The poem was extremely popular with pre-Rafaelite painters
and Hunt himself returned to the image at several points in
his career.
The story was attractive because of the sorrowful aspects of
love and the idea of the isolated and unattainable woman.
The ‘fallen woman’ was key to this brotherhood of painters,
and the image of a woman at a window reflected the
separation between a woman’s interior and exterior worlds.
Hunt’s painting more accurately depicts, not the moment she
sees Lancelot, but the moment she recognizes the fulfillment
of the curse, and knows her fate.
The Lady’s hair is wild and
tempestuous reflecting her inner
emotional state, and she attempts
to break free of the web with an
outstretched hand that wards off
impending danger. It is interesting
to realize that the only image we
have of Lancelot is in the mirror. In
the mirror, as opposed to the what
is happening in the room, the Lady
appears to be headed toward
Lancelot and the outside world.
So the two appear briefly
together, though a column clearly
separates them. It is important to
note, however, that Lancelot is
riding away, his back turned toward
the woman in her state of peril.
The mirror behind the Lady is
juxtaposed by the space she
inhabits. The wide, open, and bright
image of the outside world is
contrasted with the claustrophobia
of the Lady’s tower.
Her hair frightens away the doves of
peace that have settled around her,
and the ruined tapestry reflects the
ruin of her own life.
The lamp to her side depicts sphinxes
at the bottom and owls at the top
signifying wisdom over mystery, the
light having gone out now that the
lady has given in to temptation.
The frames on either side of the
mirror depict images from the
Bible and from classical
mythology. To the left, is the
Madonna and child, signifying
humility. To the right, Heracles’
victory over the serpent that
guards the apples in the garden
of the Hesperides., signifying
valor. Heracles is haloed, the
pagan equivalent to Christ and
his victory over sin. Both are
images of duty, which contrast to
the temptation and fall of the
Lady.
In addition to being the story of the fallen woman, the journey
from innocence, to seduction, sexual awakening,
abandonment, despair, and either suicide or salvation, it is
also an exploration of the duties of artist and the dangers of
personal isolation. At what point does the artist need to
stop mirroring the world, and start living in it?
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t.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_of_Sh
alott