Frank Cowper (1877-1958) was a Pre-Raphaelite painter (considered one of the last). His “La Belle” is probably my favorite.
http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=c&a=p&ID=75
We see La Belle apparently while the knight is sleeping and dreaming. The image is one that is not in Keats’ poem. She has accomplished her goal and is preparing to leave. Her arms are raised as she puts her hair back up, having taken it down to help in her seduction of the knight. (In the poem, “Her hair was long.” The notion of a woman letting down her hair as a sexual signal has always seemed to me to be a male fantasy but it is a metaphor found in literature and art going back centuries.) Her arms form the shape of a “V” for victory.
In his book Victorian Painting, Christopher Wood uses this painting as an example of Cowper’s “lush, highly romantic Arthurian subjects, with a strong emphasis on richly coloured materials.” It is Pre-Raphaelite in its combination of a theatrical Romanticism with intricate realism. La Belle’s gown echoes the flowers in the field surrounding her—possibly poppies. It has the “touch” of velvet, that most seductive of materials. Her flowing shawl seems to represent the ease that she feels. The red could, of course, symbolize blood or the color of the siren.
The knight is lying helpless at her feet. (I always question how he could walk at all given the shape of the “shoes” that he’s wearing.) He is in full armor but that proved to be no protection against the power of La Belle. I don’t believe that she is looking at him. Her gaze is off to the side and she seems to be concentrating on her hair. Her entire air is one of self-congratulatory nonchalance. This is the traditional femme fatale who enthralls men and shows no mercy.
No comments:
Post a Comment