"Lady of the Lake"

DateProbably 1811-1825

MediumWatercolor on wove paper

Dimensions13 3/8" x 13 9/16" (34 cm. x 34.5 cm.) unframed; 15 1/4" x 15 1/4" framed.

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1932.301.2

DescriptionA woman with long, brown hair stands barefoot on the seat of a rowboat, pushing off from the shore with an oar. A large tree growing out from the bank looms over her, and a mass of willows appears on a far bank at right over a small body of water. Blue-green bushes dot the bank in the background. The woman wears a red- and blue-checked dress with a blue sash draped over one shoulder.Label TextThere are many known nineteenth-century compositions illustrating The Lady of the Lake, a poem by Sir Walter Scott that achieved great popularity during the first half of the century. It takes place on the shore of Scotland's Lock Katrine and tells the romantic story of James Fitz-James, the knight incognito, and Ellen, the daughter of the banished Douglas. Some of the works based on the poem, such as this watercolor, appear to have been based on David Edwin's engraving after G. Fairman, an image that served as the frontispiece to several editions of the poem. However, in keeping with Scott's description in the poem, this watercolor shows her dressed in plaid, unlike the Edwin engraving, which depicts her draped in plain fabrics.Mark(s)A watermark in the right edge of the primary support reads "J Whatman/1808." (Lower halves of numerals are cut off by paper edge, but preceding appears to be correct reading.)ProvenanceIsabel Carleton Wilde (Cambridge, MA); 1932 (John Becker Galleries, New York, NY, November 28, 1932, Catalogue no. 80); Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 1932.