A Scene from 'Undine'

This 1843 scene from Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's German Romantic novella Undine was painted for the Royal Collection, reflecting Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's interest in German Romantic literature and culture. The story of Undine — a water spirit who gains a soul through love and marriage with a mortal knight — combined supernatural narrative with psychological depth in a way that translated readily into Victorian narrative painting. Prince Albert's German cultural formation gave him particular affinity for the German Romantic tradition, and his patronage of Maclise's Undine connected British academic painting to a specifically German literary source. The Royal Collection's holding of this work preserves the cultural dimension of Victorian royal patronage.

The fantastical subject is rendered with Maclise's characteristic clarity and precision, the water spirit and surrounding environment painted with a combination of naturalistic detail and ethereal atmospheric effects.