Left: Rapunzel, by Sidney Harold Meteyard (1868-1947). Oil on canvas. 69 x 29 inches (175 X 73.5 cm). Private collection, image courtesy of Sotheby's, London, originally downloaded by George P. Landow, and kindly replaced with a better reproduction by Scott Thomas Buckle. Right: Meteyard's Rapunzel Guendoline, Wood block engraving on white paper. 7 ¼ x 4 ¼ inches (18.5 x 11 cm) – image size. Private collection, image courtesy of Buckle, whose contribution has aided greatly in establishing the subject of the painting, as well as confirming the identity of the artist. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
The subject of the painting is based on a wood-engraved illustration that appeared in The Quest, No. VI, in July 1896, as its frontispiece. This periodical was printed by hand at the Press of the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft and published by Cornish Brothers, Birmingham. It began publication in November 1894 and aimed to appear three times a year, but was short-lived, ending publication in July 1896. As a result, only six issues were ever published, each issue in a limited number of 300 copies. With both male and female students, as well as the staff at the Birmingham School of Art, supplying illustrations, eighteen artists in all contributed, of which five were women. The contributers, included such familiar names as Meteyard himself, Arthur Gaskin, Charles March Gere, Henry Albert Payne, Kate Bunce, Georgie Gaskin, and Mary Newell. The magazine contained essays on artistic matters, reviews, and poetry. Special attention was paid to typography, using Caslon Old Face type, as well as to illustrations, and the use of carefully selected paper.
The story of Rapunzel is generally taken from the famous tale told by the Brothers Grimm. Rapunzel, a beautiful young maiden, was imprisoned by an evil enchantress in a tall dark tower that had neither stairs nor a door. The only way to gain access to her was to call out "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." The evil enchantress would then climb up her long-braided golden hair to her window. One day, however, the King's son discovered the tower and how to gain access to the beautiful Rapunzel. He persuaded her to try to leave the tower and to marry him. But how would Rapunzel could get down from the tower? She suggested that the Prince bring her some silk to weave into a ladder. The enchantress discovered the plot, however, cut off Rapunzel's golden locks, and cast a spell banishing her to a desert where no one would be foolish enough to venture. When the Prince returned and discovered Rapunzel was lost to him, he threw himself from the tower in despair. Although he survived the fall, he was blinded by thorns that pierced his eyes. For months he wandered the land calling out Rapunzel's name until at length he came to the desert where he heard her voice singing a sad lullaby. He followed the sound and Rapunzel, upon seeing him, ran into his arms weeping. The moment her tears touched his eyes his vision was restored. The happy couple left the desert for his father's castle where they lived happily ever after.
In Meteyard's wood block print the name Guendoline appears on the right-hand side. This strongly suggests that Meteyard's subject was derived, not from the Grimms' fairy tale, but instead from William Morris's poem "Rapunzel," included in his book The Defense of Guenevere and Other Poems, first published by Bell and Dandy in 1858. Although Morris's poem was adapted from the Grimms' fairy tale, the narrative itself is quite different. In Morris's poem the witch's name was Rapunzel, the prince's name was Prince Sebald, and the golden-haired maiden's proper name was Guendolen.
Meteyard's painting follows the print quite closely, featuring the beautiful young Rapunzel imprisoned in her tower and wearing a yellow-orange classical gown with a red cloak. She holds her exceedingly long hair in her hands, which surprisingly is red in colour rather than golden as described in the fairy tale. Orange lilies are seen in a vase to her right and strewn on the floor. These may have been included more for their decorative effect rather than any symbolic meaning in the language of flowers. In the Victorian era orange lilies signified confidence, pride, and celebration. It is perhaps possible that Meteyard intended them to signify Rapunzel's confidence in escaping her lonely tower with the aid of the Prince, an outcome that would obviously be cause for celebration, but this is a bit of a stretch. The time is twilight and Rapunzel stands by her window through which can be glimpsed the walls of a castle and a distant landscape of rolling hills. In the Brother Grimms' fairy tale the tower was an isolated structure, not connected to a castle, and was located in a forest.
When this painting sold at Sotheby's Belgravia in 1979 its original title had been lost and it was misidentified as Evening. Because the figure of Rapunzel in this early work is somewhat atypical from those found in his more mature works, this painting in the past has even been misattributed to J.R.S. Stanhope. The discovery of the print from The Quest, however, leaves no doubt that this work is, in fact, by Meteyard. Rapunzel was not a common subject for artists within the Pre-Raphaelite circle. The most famous version is the watercolour by Frank Cadogan Cowper of Rapunzel Sings from the Tower of 1908.
Bibliography
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Grimm's Fairy Tales. Illustrated by Wehnert. Boston: Caldwell, 1896 (see pp. 56-59). HathiTrust. Web. 21 March 2026.
Highly Important Victorian Paintings and Drawings. London: Sotheby's Belgravia (March 19, 1979): lot 14, 30-31.
Morris, William. "Rapunzel." William Morris Archive. Web. 21 March 2026. https://morrisarchive.lib.uiowa.edu/items/show/2210.
Waters, Bill. "Book Illustration. Vision with Design." By Hammer and Hand. The Arts and Crafts Movement in Birmingham. Alan Crawford Ed. Birmingham: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, 1984. 89.
Created 20 October 2004
Re-attribution and new commentary, 21 March 2026