Elaine, the Lily Maid of Astolat

The present picture is a mystery. It bears a monogram which resembles that of Edward Henry Corbould, the historical and literary genre painter whose remarkable work, A Dream of Fair Women, featured in the Forbes Collection of Victorian Paintings and Works of Art (see Christie's, London, 19-20 February 2003, lot 230). Primarily a watercolourist, his paint often seems to fracture into tiny spheres of light and colour, in imitation of the more effervescent effects of his native medium. The academic classicism evident in Elaine is atypical.

Elaine, the lily maid of Astolet, was depicted by a number of artists during the 19hh Century. Her story features in Malory's Morte d'Arthur, which enjoyed a revival of popularity in Victorian England, and is most famously adapted by Tennyson for The Lady of Shalott (1842) and again for his verse series The Idylls of the King (1859; no. VII, 'Lancelot and Elaine').

The story of Elaine was to inspire artists and writers throughout the 19hh Century. Julia Margaret Cameron even depicted Elaine in one of her photographic images: Elaine in the Barge (1875). As her iconography has developed, the image of Elaine's head supine upon a barge, surrounded by lillies, has become predominant.