The Lady of Shalott

It is likely that John Everett Millais produced this drawing to illustrate Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’, published by Edward Moxon in 1857. ‘The Lady of Shalott’ was inspired by the legends associated with King Arthur and Camelot, in particular the figure of Elaine of Astolat.

The victim of a deadly curse, The Lady of Shalott was unable to look at the world directly, viewing it instead through reflections in a mirror. One day, distracted by the passing figure of the handsome knight Lancelot, the woman looked up from her mirror to the man himself. Knowing the curse had been broken and that death was inevitable, she resigned herself to her fate and spent her last moments travelling by boat to Camelot.

Millais’s drawing was not used in the final publication. He illustrates the sixteenth stanza of Tennyson’s poem:

Lying, robed in snowy white

That loosely flew to left and right -

The leaves upon her falling light -

Thro' the noises of the night,

She floated down to Camelot:

And as the boat -head wound along

The willowy hilss and fields among,

They heard her singing her last song,

The Lady of Shalott.

Maria Zagala, Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs

Ex Libris: the printed image and the art of the book, 2010

John Everett Millais’ The Lady of Shalott was probably produced for Edward Moxon’s illustrated edition of Lord Tennyson’s poems, published in 1857. Given the beauty of Millais’ pen and ink illustration, it seems unusual that it escaped inclusion within the compilation. However, the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, selected instead, was graphically bolder and perhaps better suited to the demands of reproductive printing.

Inspired by the legends associated with King Arthur and Camelot, The Lady of Shalott was based on the figure of Elaine of Astolat. The victim of a deadly curse, Shalott was unable to look at the world directly, viewing it instead from reflections in a mirror. Distracted, one day, by the passing figure of the knight, Lancelot, Shalott looked up from her mirror to the man himself. Knowing the curse had been broken and that death was near, Shalott resigned herself to her fate and spent her last moments travelling by boat in search of Lancelot.

Millais’ drawing illustrates the sixteenth stanza of Tennyson’s poem:

Lying, robed in snowy white

That loosely flew to left and right—

The leaves upon her falling light—

Thro’ the noises of the night,

She floated down to Camelot:

And as the boat-head wound along

The willowy hills and fields among,

They heard her singing her last song,

The Lady of Shalott.

Elspeth Pitt, Assistant Curator, Prints, Drawings & Photographs