“A man may say full sooth in game and play” or modernly “Many a true word spoken in jest”.

I chose to open this Blog with quotes of jest and myth to journey back in time through legends of old.

I invite you to read the poetical ballad written originally in 1833 by Alfred Lord Tennyson that provided the inspiration for ‘The Lady of Shalott’ oil painting of 1888 by John William Waterhouse.  You can read the poem here:

http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/tennyson-lady-of-shalott-1842

A masterful poem certainly deserves a masterful painting.

Having seen this very painting for myself at the Exhibition: JW Waterhouse – The Modern Pre-Raphaelite, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, [displayed] until September 13 2009 – I became a forever fan of his incredible art work.

The detail John W Waterhouse is able to conjure up as if by magic is truly sensational.

I walked about the Gallery and sat upon the comfortable seating arrangements provided by the Royal Academy of Arts for as long as I was able.  Studying his brush work and the subject material closely.  Often awe-struck with sheer delight – painting after painting.

Indeed Rothko is absolutely correct, people want quality.  Waterhouse delivers this with the ease and grace of gentle waterfalls.

I liken ‘The Lady of Shalott’ to the agricultural landscape painting style that dominated mainstream art up to 1970’s Britain.  Beautifully idyllic paintings by lesser known artists graced our own family house whilst we were growing up.

It seems apparent that Waterhouse loved to paint red haired maidens.

Perhaps it was perceived as exotic, interesting and spirited.  We cannot doubt the beauty of the lady envisaged in this painting along with her forlorn pose.  The foreground reeds look ready to be plucked from the water and wafted in the quieted breeze.

There is a weightiness to the boat structure thoroughly consistent within Waterhouse paintings of buildings, people and other solid objects.  Realist perspective at its every measurable height, depth and breadth.

Waterhouse sucks you in to his imagined world.  You feel that with hammer and chisel in hand you could almost chip away at stone works or call out to his painted throngs.

If ever Mary Poppins good friend Bert wanted to jump into a painting he could not step better than into a John W Waterhouse composition.  I say this because his story telling is pure art in itself.

The Lady of Shalott’s hair is light and wispy.  The natural surroundings offer a realist contrast to popular impressionist painters’ landscapes.  Creativity is the scene itself not the piecing together of abstract ideas and what they might represent in our minds.  Detail is definitive and the interpretation literal.

So why did I begin with a delightful quotation from English antiquity?

The opening quotation is taken from “The CanterburyTales” – ‘The Cook’s Tale’ by Geoffrey Chaucer from the late 14th Century.

And so it is with Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’.  Tennyson himself inspired by earlier legends of King Arthur and the character Elaine of Astolat.

Elaine of White.  Legends reminiscent of Rumpelstiltskin.

The fable of Shalott is an echo afterwards of Sleeping Beauty (Perceforest of circa 1330) and similarly mindful within Persephone and Mina of Bram Stoker’s Dracula fame.

The accursed mirror, maiden and unrequited love theme re-crafted with its own unique originality, creative fervour and Shakespearean intellect.

Of course, I appreciate that Stoker’s novel masterpiece was inspired from a literary work by Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu entitled ‘Carmilla’.

We see painters and writers inspired by such superbly creative fables using their own imaginative flair.  Waterhouse paints the popular appetite for fables, myths and legends to an extraordinarily superior level to most.

As a fan of his work I would like to include two further Waterhouse paintings with concise commentary herewith:

Hylas and the Nymphs [1896]:

I wonder if this caused a few Victorian blushes and swoons!

The Favorites of the Emperor Honorius [1883]:

Waterhouse – perspective genius!  The stonework detail up close is realism at its remarkable best.