John William Waterhouse
Today's painting is one of the most famous English paintings from the 19th century. It illustrates a part of Alfred Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott poem. The text, first published in 1832, tells of a woman who suffers under an undisclosed curse. She lives isolated in a tower on an island called Shalott, on a river that flows down to King Arthur’s castle at Camelot. Not daring to look upon reality, she can see the outside world only through its reflection in a mirror. One day she glimpses the reflected image of the handsome knight Lancelot and cannot resist looking at him directly. The mirror cracks from side to side, and she feels the curse come upon her. The punishment that follows results in her drifting in her boat downstream to Camelot "singing her last song," but dying before she reaches there. Waterhouse shows her letting go of the boat’s chain while staring at a crucifix placed in front of three guttering candles.
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