Currently not on view
King Arthur's Death,
ca. 1859–62
Elizabeth Siddall Rossetti, British, 1834–1862
x1948-241
Siddall was an artist, poet, model, and wife of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Although this drawing only outlines the event of King Arthur’s death, the tenderness of the scene is palpable in the three women’s attentive poses. Siddall’s sketch may draw upon details
from Thomas Malory’s Le morte d’Arthur (1485), in which three queens—Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay, the Queen of Northgalis, and the Lady of the Lake—accompany the ailing king on his barge to Avalon, where they hope he will be healed. Perhaps Siddall also was inspired by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Passing of Arthur” (1859), in which the king requests to be placed on his barge and “three Queens put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept.”
from Thomas Malory’s Le morte d’Arthur (1485), in which three queens—Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay, the Queen of Northgalis, and the Lady of the Lake—accompany the ailing king on his barge to Avalon, where they hope he will be healed. Perhaps Siddall also was inspired by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Passing of Arthur” (1859), in which the king requests to be placed on his barge and “three Queens put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept.”
Information
Title
King Arthur's Death
Dates
ca. 1859–62
Medium
Graphite
Dimensions
17.5 x 27.3 cm (6 7/8 x 10 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895
Object Number
x1948-241
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
