John William Waterhouse of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Part 3: Medieval II
https://phistars.blogspot.com/2012/04/john-william-waterhouse-of-pre_6920.html
John William Waterhouse of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Part 3: Medieval II
The next pretty maiden is Juliet. Well, we already know a lot about her. Waterhouse has depicted the fragility of this 16 year old rather well. She is fiddling with her blue bead necklace. Her red dress (of passion) works pretty well. The pink overlay for gentleness is also a nice addition. I think she is inside the Capulet mansion. In any case, this painting deserves 5 star rating.
This one is "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" or The Beautiful Lady Without Pity. This is based on a poem by John Keats. Basically, this maiden lures men and makes love to them. Once they can live without her she lures them to her layer... The main character was also enthralled by her. While he slept inside her grotto, her other victims warmed him about her. He escaped but could not forget. He still returned to the place he mer her looking for her. In Waterhouse's painting, the Lady is luring in the knight. He is gazing upon her, enraptured. It is quite the beautiful love scene in the forest. The purple of her dress matches well with the highlights of the armor. Truly, all the elements work well. Since the poem or ballad is not so long I shall place it bellow the painting. It really is quite the nice narrative poem. In any case, both the Waterhouse painting and Keats romanticist poem of forbidden love deserves 5 star rating.
The next painting shows Lamia. This snake lady is a mythological creature that was popular during the romanticism times. She comes straight out of mythology with the colors of a romanticism world. This scene in specific is derived from another of John Keats's femme fatale poems. Basically, Lamia was a maiden trapped in the form of a serpent. Hermes in his quest for his lover girl runs into Lamia. She tells him the location of his lover in exchange for being returned to her human form. Here Lamia is speaking with the man she loves. The scales of her former self lie discarded on the ground. She is looking intently at her lover. I would like to tell you that this story has a happy ending. However, on their wedding day the Sage Apollonius revealed to the lover boy the true identity of Lamia. She turned back into a snake and her lover died of grief. In any case, this lovely painting deserves 5 star rating. Oh, down bellow is a line from the poem. It critiques philosophy for taking the fun out of things.
Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine
Unweave a rainbow, as it erewhile made
The tender-person'd Lamia melt into a shade.
Above, we have Mariana in the South. This is from a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Basically, Mariana is lovesick. She once was in love but now she wakes at night all alone. Her love has died and she wishes for death herself. The letters of her lover lie scattered (you can see them at the bottom of the painting) in front of the mirror. She sees herself in the mirror mourning the form that her lover adored. She realizes that it will soon fade away. She here prays to the Virgin Mary asking questions about her lover. The slightly open door shows the beautiful day outside. However, Mariana is trapped in her melancholy. She keeps looking at herself in the mirror. Now reading the poem over, I think her lover left her because she was turning ugly. In any case, she jumped out of the balcony (and died). Bellow is the ending line, for pharmaceutical purposes. Anyhow, 5 stars for Waterhouse and Tennyson.
And weeping then she made her moan,
"The night comes on that knows not morn,
When I shall cease to be all alone,
To live forgotten, and love forlorn."
The next painting is called "The Flower Picker". Well, there is no super obscure reference in this painting. IT is simply a painting of a medieval girl picking flowers. Romanticism was all naturely about things. You can see a lovely sunset, a meadow and a lil red house. Whatever, 5 stars!! Moving along...
The next painting is a study for the Lady of Shallot. I will speak more of it in the final draft. 5 stars.
In the next scene, the Lady of Shallot (1888) is ridding the boat that will take her to Camelot. The curse is starting to take effect. You can see her right hand resting lifeless on her arm. She is using her good hand to set the boat loose. It is interesting how she is sitting on top of one of her embroidered works. Some of her sewing utensil are also with her. It is as if she is vainly trying to slow down the curse with some hopeless trick. In any case, this poor ill fated maiden deserves 5 star rating.
Well, we have more on Ophelia. This time Ophelia is adorning her hair with Rueful flowers. Behind her, you can see the marshland where she died. The painting itself, with its loose brushstrokes, is really quite lovely. 5 stars for Waterhouse.
Now we have Ophelia resting from her flower picking. This time she is wearing a white dress. The first time Ophelia was played by a woman, the Lady wore white and rueful flowers. White, loose hair and flowers was the typical way of depicting crazed women in plays during the Romanticism period. In any case, this version deserves 5 star rating.
The next windy painting is called "Tempest". Here a maiden is looking at a ship sinking. She does not realize that there is a drowned man by the shore. Judging by her hand to her hearth, the lady must be alarmed by what she sees. This one too belongs to Waterhouse windy depictions. In any case, this bad weather romanticist painting deserves 5 stars.
The next painting could work as Roman . However, the background and the surroundings is totally medieval. During the medieval times the cult of the Virgin Mary was blossoming. Sometimes there were far more depictions of the Virgin than that of Christ in certain churches. Then again, the image of a mother and a baby has always been popular since immemorial times. Only recently has it gone out of usage (for reasons that I refuse to mention, but will allude to in my silence). We all know of the Annunciation. Here the angel tells the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to God. You can see, the Torah on a stand (this shows that the Virgin was literate). On the floor, you can see a yarn string. She must have been working on sewing when the angel broke the news to her. Her hand on her head shows her surprise. The angel wings look like regular bird wings. I think the messenger was Arch Angel Micheal. It has quite the androgynous look about it. In any case, this painting of Waterhouse deserves 5 stars.
The next painting is called "The Shrine" . During Medieval times, pilgrimages where a commonplace thing. Many used to travel all over the place to worship the relics of dead saints. In this painting, a maiden is smelling the flower offerings. We cannot make out the identity of the Saint. It seems to appeal to the sense of smell. Oh, well, lets move along... This blog is becoming too long.5 stars.
The next painting is called , "The Crystal Ball". This item was commonly used by seers or gypsies to see spirits, the future, the past, the present ect. This maiden herself is of a respectable repute. She is not in the forest invoking some malediction or other. She is trying out some magic or other. There lies a spell book, a wand and skull on the table. Judging by her distressed expression, she wishes to see a love one who has departed. Her red dress shows her desire... In any case, this lovely painting deserves 5 star rating.
The next painting is called " The Enchanted Garden" (1916). This is work was left unfinished because Waterhouse die. Still, the unfinished version is pretty lovely. Here we see lots of elements of spring time. It is as if Waterhouse was looking back at his youthful days now that death was just around the corner. In the center, we have 5 maidens. Each is a type of maiden that Waterhouse most often depicted. The one in pink is the frighten, gentle maiden. Next to her, is the one who appeals to the sense of smell. Following we have the inspired maiden looking at God above. The crazed maiden (or an allusion to Ophelia) follows. Lastly, we have a lil girl. There are two men in the painting. One gazes at the group of damsels. Based on their dark somber colors, methinks they are just decorations. In any case, this lovely painting deserves 5 star rating.
This one is a study for the Windflowers. 5 stars for Waterhouse.
This is my personal favorite of all of Waterhouse's depictions of Lady of Shallot. In this very moment, Lancelot is passing by...For the first time, Lady of Shallot was able to gaze upon him. Her gaze is focused on him with passionate desire. If you notice, the curse is starting to twist around her legs. The strings of her loom bar her movements. Still, she is in the process of rising in search of the man she loved so dearly. We are all familiar by now with her room. If you look over her shoulder, you can see Lancelot reflected in the mirror. If you noticed, the mirror is cracked on the side of the passing Lancelot. That is a very ill omen... This painting is very cool!! 5 stars for Waterhouse.
Now, to finish this super long blog we have "Tristram and Isolde" (1916). This ill fated couple was the inspiration for Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and the romance between Lancelot and Guinevere. From what I read, Isolde was taken in by Tristam as a wife for his king. Isolde was given a love potion to make her tolerate her new husband. Instead of giving it to her rightful mate, she gives it to the knight and both fall madly in love with one another. Like offering the forbidden fruit, Isolde (who has already taken the potion) offers its essence to Tristam. This sea voyage is the start of their love. Its a weird story... I am not going to go nuts about the ending (there is like 1000 different versions).In any case, this painting deserves 5 stars. I hope you like this cruise through medieval times thanks to the art of Waterhouse. I thank you for reading, Tata and Goodnight!!
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