COVE

First published in 1857 for the special Moxon Tennyson edition, this woodblock engraving by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, depicts the Lady of Shalott, the titular character of Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem of the same name, lying dead in the boat as Lancelot looks upon her from above. Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood founded in September 1848. The Pre-Raphaelites were known for creating avante-garde illustration styles through melding the traditions of fine, highbrow art and decorative art.

They were also known for their unique depictions of women within their illustrations. These illustrated women were modelled after famous real-life women who were connected to the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in various ways such as marriage, love affairs, and professional art ventures. The Pre-Raphaelites depicted women in a very specific way: ‘beautiful faces with large, luminescent eyes surrounded by long, cascading hair’. The depictions of these real-life women portrayed them as the men’s ideals of femme fatales, victims, saints; these portrayals forced them to become archetypes that either revered them as objects of desire in a fantasy realm that was far removed from the real world, or reduced them to said object of desires in an illustration, stripping them of their personalities and jeopardizing connections to the real world. This can be seen through the way that Rossetti depicts the Lady of Shalott in this illustration. The Lady of Shalott is constructed as a passive female figure, one who embodies innocence, charm, and chastity; as even in death, she remains beautiful. In terms of archetypes, she can either be seen as a victim or a saint. In the poem, she leaves her sheltered life in her tower to, assumedly, pursue Lancelot. This act of agency leads her to her death, either as a consequence of giving in to her sexual desires and leaving the tower, or merely to immortalize her as a beautiful and chaste woman. Rossetti’s choice to portray the Lancelot gazing down at the Lady of Shalott, illustrated in the Pre-Raphaelite style, speaks to the notion of these artists, not just merely bringing Tennyson’s lyrical ballad to life, but to a larger commentary regarding the way they viewed women: as an object for the male gaze. This depiction is reminiscent of portrayals of passive, female figures in fairy tales such as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, who sleep awaiting their prince who will finally look down on them and save them with a kiss.

Sources:

An Introduction to the Lady of Shalott

Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

Pre-Raphaelite Women