Tuesday Art ATTACK- John William Waterhouse “The Lady of Shalott”

English painter John William Waterhouse was born in Rome to two artist parents in 1849. Waterhouse lived in Rome until he was five. Coming from an artistic family Waterhouse was always encouraged to draw and paint when he was growing up in England. Waterhouse entered the Royal Academy of Art school in London in 1871. He showed in the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition almost every year from 1874 to 1916. Waterhouse work was created in a Pre-Raphaelite style, a art movement that had gone out of fashion decades before. Pre-Raphaelite work focused on Classical poses and compositions like Old Master Raphael's work. Having grown up in Rome Waterhouse was influenced by Neoclassical design and loved mythology. “The Lady of Shalott” was created in 1888 after the Lord Tennyson's 1832 poem of the same name. It is a story that tells of a women who is cursed to view the world only through a mirror and her unrequited love for Lancelot. After a long and successful career Waterhouse passed away in 1917.