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The Lady of Shalott (Tennyson's Poems, New York, 1903)

Engraver John Thompson British
After William Holman Hunt British
Publisher New Amsterdam Book Company American
1857–1903
Not on view
In 1857 Edward Moxon published a new edition of Poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson illustrated by William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and John Everett Millais. Their striking Pre-Raphaelite designs puzzled the author and many readers but soon were seen as iconic and republished several times--here in 1903. Hunt’s illustration for The Lady of Shalott imagined the poem’s climax—precipitated when the heroine hears Sir Lancelot singing and leaves her loom to look at him from her window. As a result, a spell that bound her breaks, her tapestry unravels, and a mirror she relied on to view the outside world "crack’d from side to side."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Lady of Shalott (Tennyson's Poems, New York, 1903)
  • Engraver: John Thompson (British, Manchester 1785–1866 London)
  • Artist: After William Holman Hunt (British, London 1827–1910 London)
  • Publisher: New Amsterdam Book Company (New York)
  • Date: 1857–1903
  • Medium: Wood engraving
  • Dimensions: Image: 3 11/16 × 3 3/16 in. (9.4 × 8.1 cm)
    Sheet: 8 in. × 6 3/16 in. (20.3 × 15.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Anonymous Gift, 1925
  • Object Number: 25.78.1013
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Preface, Introduction and List of Illustrations (Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson, New York, 1903)
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Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal)
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