Maybe you've noticed I like paintings from the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, especially John Waterhouse and Edward Burne-Jones. I guess this type of idealized "representation" isn't exactly high art. But what pretty pictures. We think of the Victorians as uptight, but this style is also described as "medieval eroticism," and it was once controversial and avant-garde. Now-a-days, these pictures make nice calendars, note cards and dorm posters. Most of them tell a story, and here are a few of my favorites.
"Lady Clare"
John WaterhouseFor a long time I thought this pretty girl was leading a white deer, but no! It's a unicorn-- there's his little horn. This is "Lady Clare," the unicorn hunter in the mythical poem by
Alfred Tennyson. I'm not sure if she has captured him, or he is just following her home.
"Circe"John WaterhouseHere's a painting from Greek mythology, showing Circe the enchantress with her carafe of magic wine. During his long odyssey, Ulysses and his crew arrived on the Island of Aeaea, where they saw the beautiful Circe weaving on her loom. They found this domestic sight reassuring, and probably hoped she could cook too, because they were starving. She invited them to dinner, and as soon as they sipped the wine, they were transformed into animals according to their innermost tendencies: mostly pigs, dogs, and lions. You get the picture-- the magic wine shows what you really are at heart. After that, Circe took them to the stables and fed them acorns, the usual food for swine. The sailors had animal bodies, but they still had their human minds. They cried, but all you could hear were grunts. Sad.
"Ophelia"
John Waterhouse
Dramatic Shakespeare characters were also popular. Here is mad Ophelia from the play Hamlet, gathering flowers right before she drowns herself. There's another
famous painting of Ophelia, done by the painter Millais. It shows her floating on the water, still held up by her ornate dress, just as Shakespeare described it in the play.
"Cleopatra"
John WaterhouseEveryone knows who Cleopatra is, but this is a languorous pose. You can almost imagine the artist's model reclining in the studio, playing a sultry lady with plenty of time to lie around thinking up mischief. Watch out, Mark Anthony.
"The Beguiling of Merlin"
Burne-JonesThis complex picture is considered one of Burne-Jones best, and it took him almost nine years to complete. His mistress, whose face you see in many of his other paintings, was the model for Nimue, who has just cast a spell on the powerful wizard Merlin. According to
legend, Merlin becomes entangled in a hawthorn bush, where his voice is sometimes still heard.
"Miranda and the Tempest"
John Waterhouse
In Shakespeare's play "The Tempest," the fifteen year old Miranda was cast away on an island since she was a baby. She received an education from her magician father, but is completely lacking in life experience. From her limited knowledge of the world, she assumes all men are good. Her father causes a massive storm to bring her a husband, and in this picture she watches the shipwreck that brings men to the island. She has these famous lines at the end of the play:
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!
Oh, brave new world that has such creatures in it.The Tempest
Act 5, Scene 1, 181-184
"The Lady of Shallot"
John WaterhouseThis famous painting is based on Tennyson's poem
The Lady of Shallot. The poem tells an Arthurian legend about a lady who has been cursed, and must constantly weave a magic web without looking out at the real world. She watches the world in a mirror instead, which reflects the busy road to Camelot. One day who should ride along but Sir Lancelot. She stops weaving, finds a boat and floats down the river to Camelot. It doesn't have a happy ending.
What is beautiful? I don't know. In about 1975, I bought a poster of "The Lady of Shallot" on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, a big purchase for a poor English literature major. At the time, this was one of the prettiest things I ever saw, and I have it to this day.
