

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).