Who Was the Lady of Shalott?

One of the characters in my novel is very beautiful and I imagine that, in person, she looked even more like John William Waterhouse’s famous Lady of Shalott than her identifiable portraits did. It occurred to me that the historical person I am writing about was contemporary to and geographically close enough to Waterhouse to pose for such a portrait and posing for a portrait is something she did do.

Could my character have been the famous Lady of Shalott? Surely, that would be too good to be true. It’s why I have to do so much research. I did find something interesting though.

Although we don’t know who most of Waterhouse’s whispy, nymph-like, Pre-Raphaelite models were, we now have an idea who the model for the Lady of Shalott might have been: Waterhouse’s half-sister, Mary Waterhouse.

It was also interesting to find out here that Waterhouse’s studio is still used as an artist’s studio, the light is still perfect for painting, and the lady of Shalott was painted outside the studio with the model (likely Mary) sitting in a shrub in 1888, while Waterhouse filled in the rest of the painting from his imagination.

The Lady of Shalott was inspired by Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem, which was even more influential in the late-Victorian era than it is today. Tennyson was a favourite and a friend of Bram Stoker.

The painting was donated to the public by Sir Henry Tate in 1894.

Follow me on Twitter @TinyApplePress and like the Facebook page for updates!

The Real Basil Hallward

The idea of a rivalry sounds juvenile. When contemporary celebrities do it, it promotes a culture of bullying. And yet, like a big old nostalgic hypocrite, I think everything seemed better in the 1890s, when celebrity rivalries resulted in fine works of literature and were based on a misunderstanding. James Whistler, most famous for his painting: "Whistler's Mother," found his way through a very public rivalry with Oscar Wilde into The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Whistler and Wilde were both aesthetes, though they differed on the finer points of their personal philosophies, such a whether painting or poetry were the higher form of art. Nevertheless, Wilde intended to praise Whistler when he said Whistler's first book was a masterpiece in 1885:

...not merely for its clever satire and amusing jests…but for the pure and perfect beauty of many of its passages . . . for that he is indeed one of the very greatest masters of painting, in my opinion. And I may add that in this opinion Mr. Whistler himself entirely concurs.

I can hear the drumroll at the end of that!

Whistler, however, was offended and the two began verbally sparring in the press. Antics ensued, such as the famous exchange:

Oscar Wilde: "I wish I had said that"
Whistler: "You will, Oscar, you will."

This, of course, was a jab at Wilde's reputation for trying out all of his witticisms verbally and borrowing some from others. Wilde thought he was getting back at Whistler when he modeled Basil Hallward, the murdered artist in the Picture of Dorian Gray, after his one time friend. I'm not sure I get the joke because I really like that character and think it's terrible when he dies.

I wonder if other aesthetes recognized Whistler in the character of Basil Hallward. If you have more insights, feel free to comment or message me!

Follow me on Twitter @TinyApplePress and like the Facebook page  for updates!