Details & Cataloguing
Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art
|
London
London
Sidney Harold Meteyard
1868 - 1947
TRISTRAM AND YSEULT
watercolour with bodycolour and tempera
53 by 61cm., 21 by 24in.
Provenance
Roy Miles, London; Christie’s, London, 22 February 1977, lot 144 as Knight Kneeling before a Princess, where purchased by Seymour Stein
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1907, no.993
Catalogue Note
Little is known about Meteyard’s life but he left a wonderful legacy of his paintings, designs for stained glass and murals, enamel work and book illustrations. It is thought that Meteyard may have encountered Burne-Jones whilst teaching at the Birmingham School of Art. Certainly the influence of Burne-Jones was strong in both Meteyard’s choice of subjects and his technique, with its beautiful attention to decorative details of design.
Tristram and Yseult takes its narrative from the Morte d’Arthur, like several pictures by Meteyard, including the similar Merlin and Vivian of 1908 (private collection) and his most famous work “I’m Half Sick of Shadows” Said the Lady of Shalot of 1913 (private collection) recently shown in the exhibition at the National Gallery in London 'Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites'. In the latter painting, like Tristram and Yseult, a circular mirror is prominent.
The love of Tristram (Tristan) and Queen Yseult (Iseult, Ysolde) was a popular subject for Pre-Raphaelite artists, painted by both Rossetti and by Burne-Jones. It had a lasting popularity for romantically-inclined artists and was the subject of a painting of 1901 by Herbert Draper (destroyed, formerly at the Walker Art Gallery) and another by John William Waterhouse of 1913 (private collection).
Suggested Lots
Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art
|
London
London
