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

The Lady of Shalott (from Tennyson's Poems, New York, 1903) is a significant wood engraving by Pre-Raphaelite master Dante Gabriel Rossetti, illustrating the pivotal moment in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s famous Arthurian poem. Executed originally as a design in 1857, the image was later published as a print in the seminal 1903 New York edition of Tennyson's collected works. This type of collaborative effort, where prominent artists provided illustrations for major literary texts, was characteristic of the Victorian era, allowing sophisticated fine art designs to reach a wide public domain through mass reproduction.

Rossetti’s distinctive style transforms the dramatic narrative, focusing intensely on the isolation of the subject, a woman trapped by a curse that forbids her from looking directly at the world outside her tower. The careful execution of the wood engraving conveys the emotional tension of the scene. The illustration captures the crucial moment when the Lady, seeing Sir Lancelot passing by among other men and women reflected in her mirror, turns her gaze, bringing the fatal curse upon her.

The work emphasizes the emotional turmoil and medieval romanticism central to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s aesthetic, elevating the literary illustration beyond mere decoration. Rossetti’s rendering highlights his ability to imbue small-scale prints with profound psychological depth. This exemplary work, representing both the original design period (1857) and the final publication (1903), is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.