Mariana in the South

Mariana in the South, painted in 1897, takes its subject from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1832 poem, itself a companion to his earlier 'Mariana' (1830), both based on the character from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Mariana is a figure of patient, sorrowful waiting — abandoned and unreachable in her moated grange or her southern setting — who became one of the nineteenth century's central images of feminine melancholy. Waterhouse had previously explored the related Arthurian figure of the Lady of Shalott; Mariana offered a comparable emotional register — interiority, waiting, frustrated longing — with a different setting. By 1897 Waterhouse was at the peak of his powers, and this canvas shows the full development of his mature capacity to fuse figure, setting, and mood into a single atmospheric statement.

The 'south' of the title suggests a warm, sun-baked Mediterranean setting quite different from the northern, watery moodscape of the original Mariana poem. Waterhouse exploits this contrast to deploy a palette of hot yellows, terracottas, and bleached whites alongside the figure's cooler dress tones. The stillness of the composition mirrors the waiting the subject describes.