Edward Reginald Frampton (1872-1923)
Property from the Estate of the Late Ian Fry (Lots 122, 126, 137, 148-151, 154, 161-166)
Edward Reginald Frampton (1872-1923)

Elaine, the Lady of Shallott

Details
Edward Reginald Frampton (1872-1923)
Elaine, the Lady of Shallott
signed 'E Reginald Frampton' (lower left, in a cartouche)
oil on canvas
25 x 15 in. (63.5 x 38 cm.)
Provenance
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 15 January 1971, lot 151.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 13 March 1992, lot 83, where purchased by Ian Fry, and by descent.
Literature
Royal Academy Illustrated, 1921, p. 120, illustrated.
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1921, no. 421.
Bristol, Royal West of England Academy, 1921.
Brighton, Autumn Exhibition of Modern Pictures, 1922, no. 1.
London, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, 1923, no. 76.
London, Fine Art Society, Paintings and Water-Colours by the late E. Reginald Frampton, 1924, no. 17 (60 gns).

Brought to you by

Clare Keiller
Clare Keiller

Lot Essay

Painted only three years before Frampton's death, the picture illustrates the well-known opening lines of Tennyson's 'Lancelot and Elaine' from the Idylls of the King:
Elaine the fair, Elaine the loveable,
Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat,
High in a chamber up a tower to the east
Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot.
In this sense it is backward-looking, for no subject from the Morte d'Arthur, or rather Tennyson's revamping of it, was more popular with Victorian artists; indeed Frampton himself had exhibited a version at the New Gallery in 1899 (no. 338). On the other hand, in formal terms the picture shows a dramatic development from his early manner, being in the more linear, schematic and 'abstract' style that he adopted towards the end of his life. For another example, dating from 1919, see The Last Romantics, exhibition catalogue, Barbican Art Gallery, 1989, no. 66, illustrated in catalogue.

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