The Lady of Shalott (from the poem by Tennyson)

Waterhouse returned to the subject of Tennyson's 1833 poem The Lady of Shalott multiple times throughout his career, most famously in his 1888 canvas now at the Tate. This version, held at Falmouth Art Gallery, represents one of his later treatments of the subject. The poem tells of a woman cursed to weave and view the outside world only through a mirror; when she turns to look directly at Sir Lancelot, the mirror cracks and she floats in a boat toward Camelot and death. The theme of the fatal gaze, the woman imprisoned and then destroyed by her own desire, resonated deeply with late Victorian anxieties about femininity, freedom, and transgression. Waterhouse's repeated return to the subject suggests both its commercial viability and its deep imaginative hold on him, each version exploring different moments or moods from Tennyson's narrative.

Waterhouse exploits the boat-on-water setting to create a composition of strong horizontal and vertical rhythms. The figure's white garments glow against the darker water and shadowed banks, and loose, flowing brushwork in both the drapery and the rippled water surface suggests movement and impermanence.