The Lady of Shalott by Sidney Harold Meteyard (1868-1947). Tempera on paper. 38 x 12 inches (96 x 30.5 cm). Private collection, image courtesy of Sotheby's. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
The Lady of Shalott was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1905, no. 882. This painting illustrates a later episode in the story of "The Lady of Shalott" than the one in Meteyard's "I Am Half-Sick of Shadows." In this work, the Lady is shown heading down to the river towards the boat which will take her to Camelot. It illustrates these lines from stanza two of Part IV of the poem.
And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seër in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance—
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
Elizabeth Nelson points out that the painting is unusual among Victorian depictions of the story in that it portrays the moment when the Lady appears with the chain that binds the boat, and symbolically herself, to the island prison as she prepares to leave:
Meteyard's Lady of Shalott which emphasizes the castle the Lady leaves, shows his Lady escaping the imprisonment of the "four gray walls." Although the painting stylistically resembles a Burne-Jones, the manner in which the Lady is escaping is reminiscent of the escaping lovers in Hunt's Eve of Saint Agnes. Meteyard's scene puts one in mind of a fallen woman, a woman running away to a clandestine meeting with a lover.... These lines from the poem tell of the Lady's trancelike, down-river gaze, caused by thoughts of the object of her desire and indicating perhaps that she is not responsible for her actions. [13-14]
Related Material
- Meteyard's oil-painting "I Am Half-Sick of Shadows," Said the Lady of Shalott
- The Pre-Raphaelites: Pictorial Interpretations of "The Lady of Shalott"
- A "Lady of Shalott" Gallery
Bibliography
Fine Victorian Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours. London: Sotheby's Belgravia (25 March 1975): lot 36, 22.
Nelson, Elizabeth. "Tennyson and the Ladies of Shalott." Ladies of Shalott: A Victorian Masterpiece and its Contexts. Providence: Brown University Department of Art, 1985, 10, 12, &14.
Created 23 March 2026