Image of the Week 024

The Lady of Shalott depicts the eponymous Lady, who was forbidden to look directly at the real world. Instead, she was doomed to view the world through a mirror, and weave what she saw into tapestry. Her despair was heightened when she saw loving couples entwined in the far distance, and she spent her days and nights aching for a return to normality. One day the Lady saw Sir Lancelot passing on his way in the reflection of her mirror, and dared to look out at Camelot, bringing about a curse. She escaped by boat during an autumn storm, inscribing "The Lady of Shalott" on the prow. As she sailed toward Camelot and certain death, she sang a lament. Her frozen body was found shortly afterward by the knights and ladies of Camelot, one of whom is Lancelot, who prayed to God to have mercy on her soul. The tapestry she wove during her imprisonment was found draped over the side of the boat.

John William Waterhouse, The Lady of Shalott, 1888.