Image source: artvee.com
Introduction
Evelyn De Morgan’s Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund is a richly detailed oil painting that brings to life one of medieval England’s most enduring legends. Created in the late 19th century, this work measures approximately six feet square and depicts the fateful encounter between Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and her husband King Henry II’s beloved mistress, Rosamund Clifford. De Morgan combines her Pre‑Raphaelite commitment to naturalistic detail with Symbolist overtones, crafting a scene that is both historically evocative and psychologically complex. The painting captures the moment when the jealous queen confronts Rosamund in the ivy‑clad bower, holding a dagger above the trembling maiden, while a startled page or huntsman peeks from behind a pillar. Through lush foliage, carved stonework, and carefully rendered garments, De Morgan immerses the viewer in the tension of royal intrigue, feminine rivalry, and the darker undercurrents of love and power.
Historical and Literary Context
The legend of Fair Rosamund—sometimes known as “Rosamund the Fair”—dates back to medieval chronicles and later Victorian retellings. Rosamund Clifford (c. 1150–1176) was reputedly King Henry II’s mistress, sequestered in a labyrinthine bower at Woodstock to hide her from Queen Eleanor’s wrath. Over time, the story grew more dramatic: according to one variant, Queen Eleanor used a dagger to force Rosamund to choose between death and poison; in another, she tricked the maiden into revealing the maze’s exit before carrying out her vengeance. Evelyn De Morgan drew upon this literary and historical tapestry, incorporating elements from 16th‑ and 17th‑century ballads as well as 19th‑century works by poets such as Tennyson, whose elegies and dramatic monologues revived interest in medieval romance. In choosing this subject, De Morgan engages with Victorian fascination with chivalric tales, moral conflict, and the inner lives of women confined by courtly intrigue.
Artistic Influences and Style
De Morgan’s style in Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund reflects her deep ties to the Pre‑Raphaelite movement, characterized by meticulous attention to natural detail, luminous color, and an interest in medieval themes. She studied under Ford Madox Brown and was influenced by Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s sensuous figures and Edward Burne‑Jones’s dreamlike compositions. Yet De Morgan diverged from her predecessors by infusing her scenes with overt Symbolist meaning and feminist subtext. The painting’s precise rendering of ivy leaves, carved stone reliefs, and period costumes demonstrates her studio discipline, while the tense, emotionally charged narrative echoes the Symbolist imperative to evoke inner experience. De Morgan’s palette—vibrant yet harmonious—betrays familiarity with Italian Renaissance tempera techniques, and her use of gold leaf in the queen’s necklace and the page’s embroidery hints at her appreciation for medieval illuminated manuscripts.
Subject and Iconography
At the center of the painting, Queen Eleanor stands dominant in a flowing gown of deep crimson, her face set in a mask of regal authority and suppressed fury. In her raised right hand she wields a slender dagger, its blade catching the light as it hovers over Rosamund’s heart. Fair Rosamund, clad in pale lavender and soft rose hues, kneels before the queen with an expression of terror and pleading. Behind them, a young page peeks from the shadows, his wide eyes reflecting both fear and loyalty to his mistress. The ivy‑clad bower sweeps overhead, its twisting branches and heart‑shaped leaves symbolizing both love’s entanglements and the maze that conceals Rosamund. A carved stone bench bears reliefs of mythical beasts—lions, griffins, and dragons—suggesting the hazards that lurk within courtly romance. The queen’s necklace, a heavy gold sunburst set with emerald, implies both her royal status and the blinding force of jealousy. De Morgan layers these iconographic details to build a narrative rich in psychological subtext: the collision of duty and passion, innocence and vengeance, public appearance and private anguish.
Composition and Spatial Dynamics
De Morgan arranges Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund on a square canvas, using the architectural framework of the bower to structure the scene. The vertical lines of the carved stone pillars frame the central drama, while the arc of the ivy‑covered arch unites the figures under a natural canopy. Eleanor’s raised arm and dagger create a strong diagonal from upper left to lower right, leading the viewer’s eye across Rosamund’s pale form and toward the hidden page. The page’s crouched figure introduces a secondary diagonal moving from lower right to upper left, establishing a dynamic tension that mirrors the interpersonal conflict.
Foreground elements—scattered rose petals, a small overturned lantern, and the queen’s discarded glove—anchor the immediate drama, while the midground bench and pillars provide depth. In the background, glimpses of a misty forest and distant battlements hint at the broader political context of royal power. De Morgan’s spatial arrangement balances intimacy (the close encounter between queen and maiden) with a sense of lurking menace (the concealed observer and the unknown consequences beyond the bower).
Color Palette and Light
Evelyn De Morgan’s color choices in Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund serve both aesthetic and symbolic functions. The queen’s crimson gown resonates with themes of bloody vengeance and royal authority, while the softer rose and lavender of Rosamund’s dress convey innocence, vulnerability, and the ephemeral beauty that attracts dangerous passion. De Morgan frames these contrasting hues against a background of cool greens and grays—the ivy leaves and weathered stone—that temper the emotional intensity and ground the scene in naturalism.
Light in the painting is subtle yet purposeful. A soft, diffused glow seems to emanate from an unseen source beyond the arch, illuminating Rosamund’s face and highlighting the queen’s determined profile. De Morgan allows the dagger’s blade to flash with a pinpoint of reflected light, drawing attention to its lethal potential. The folds of both garments catch glints that reveal their sumptuous textures—velvet and satin for the queen, delicate silk for the maiden. Through her expert modulation of light and shadow, De Morgan heightens the tension between the radiant innocence of Rosamund and the encroaching darkness embodied by Queen Eleanor.
Figure Treatment and Emotional Expression
De Morgan imbues her figures with discernible psychological depth. Queen Eleanor’s countenance—chin tilted upward, lips compressed, eyes narrowed—reveals a queen who feels betrayed and empowered to administer her own justice. Yet in the slight tilt of her head and the tension in her shoulders, one senses a conflict between duty and personal anguish. Fair Rosamund’s expression, by contrast, is one of pleading horror: her wide eyes filled with tears, her lips parted in an unspoken cry. The positioning of her hands—clutching the queen’s robes and clutching her own neckline—conveys both desperation and instinctive protection of her heart.
The figure of the page, though partially hidden, contributes to the painting’s emotional complexity. His youthful features betray both loyalty to Rosamund and revulsion at the unfolding violence. De Morgan’s rendering of his exposed shoulder and tense muscles underscores the vulnerability of all participants in this tragic tableau. Through nuanced body language and facial expression, De Morgan transforms a dramatic narrative into a study of human frailty and moral conflict.
Symbolism and Thematic Interpretation
Beneath its historical veneer, Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund resonates with broader themes of power, jealousy, and the punishments exacted upon women in patriarchal societies. The ivy that enfolds the bower symbolizes both love’s binding and the labyrinthine traps of courtly intrigue. It suggests that Rosamund’s beauty, like the maze, is at once enchanting and deadly. The carved beasts on the stone bench—lions representing regal might, dragons evoking destructive passion—mirror the dual nature of love and power.
De Morgan’s depiction of Eleanor wielding a dagger rather than a more symbolic instrument of revenge underscores the painting’s meditation on agency. Eleanor acts decisively to protect her crown and authority, yet her use of personal violence implicates her in the same cycle of passion she seeks to control. Rosamund, meanwhile, is doubly victimized: first by Henry’s secret favor, then by Eleanor’s public wrath. In this way, De Morgan critiques the limited avenues available to women of the period—be they queens or mistresses—and the precariousness of feminine security when defined by male desire.
Technique and Painterly Execution
Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund demonstrates Evelyn De Morgan’s technical mastery of oil painting. Her underdrawing, likely executed in charcoal or black chalk, establishes precise contours and proportional relationships. Over this, she applies successive glazes of oil paint, building skin tones with subtle gradations that capture the warmth of living flesh. The elaborate patterns on the queen’s gown—tiny floral motifs and cross‑hatched brocades—are rendered with fine brushes, each stitch and fold meticulously observed.
In contrast, the ivy leaves and background stone are painted with broader, more textural strokes, conveying the organic roughness of nature and the weathered solidity of architecture. De Morgan’s control of brushwork—ranging from invisible strokes on skin to pronounced impasto in highlights—imbues the canvas with a sense of both polished finish and tactile presence. Her nuanced layering of transparent colors allows underlying earth tones to shimmer through, uniting the painting’s overall tonality while accentuating key focal points.
Reception and Legacy
When exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in the late 19th century, Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund attracted both admiration and controversy. Admirers praised De Morgan’s skillful synthesis of historical narrative and psychological insight, while conservative critics balked at the painting’s frank depiction of violence against a female figure. Over the 20th century, the work fell into relative obscurity as art historical trends favored modernist abstraction. However, the late 20th‑ and early 21st‑century revival of interest in women artists and Pre‑Raphaelite‑Symbolist art has brought renewed attention to De Morgan’s paintings.
Scholars today recognize Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund as a landmark in feminist art history, noting De Morgan’s subversion of traditional narratives that vilify female rivals while exalting male heroes. Her empathic portrayal of Rosamund and the moral complexity she affords Eleanor have been cited as early examples of an art that nuances female interiority rather than reducing women to stereotypes of virtue or vice.
Conclusion
Evelyn De Morgan’s Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund remains a compelling meditation on medieval legend, feminine power, and the paradoxes of love and revenge. Through her fusion of Pre‑Raphaelite detail, Symbolist depth, and technical virtuosity, De Morgan transforms a sensational tale of royal jealousy into a timeless exploration of human emotion and moral agency. The painting’s balance of historical accuracy and allegorical resonance invites viewers to reflect on the enduring dynamics of gender, authority, and the fraught interplay between public duty and private passion. Over a century since its creation, Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund continues to captivate audiences, affirming Evelyn De Morgan’s legacy as a pioneering artist whose work transcends its era to speak to universal themes of beauty, betrayal, and the quest for justice.