The Lady of Shalott ~ John William Waterhouse, 1888 ✿

And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance
With glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

~
E giù per l'oscura distesa del fiume
Come un audace veggente in trance,
Vedendo tutta la sua sfortuna
Con volto vitreo
Ha guardato Camelot.
E alla chiusura della giornata
Ha sciolto la catena e si è sdraiata;
L'ampio torrente la portò lontano,
La signora di Shalott.

From poem The Lady of Sharlot Part IV
by Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1832

The Lady of Shalott an 1888 oil on canvas painting, is one of John William Waterhouse's most famous works. It depicts a scene from Tennyson's poem in which the poet describes the plight and the predicament of a young woman, loosely based on the figure of Elaine of Astolat from medieval Arthurian legend, who yearned with an unrequited love for the knight Sir Lancelot, isolated under an undisclosed curse in a tower near King Arthur's Camelot. Waterhouse painted three versions of this character, in 1888, 1894 and 1915.