Terms and conditions of use
La Belle Yseult
1863
- Medium
- oil on wood panel
- Measurements
- 35.4 × 27.9 cm
- Inscription
- inscribed in red paint l.l.: 18 BJB (monogram) 63
- Accession Number
- p.300.3-1
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased by the Commissioners of Fine Arts for Victoria, 1864
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
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In Celtic, Arthurian and medieval French legend, the Irish princess Yseult (also known as Iseult or Isolde) symbolized great beauty and virtue. Arthurian legends were very much in vogue during the Victorian era, and the romantic tale of Yseult and her great love, Tristan, was a popular subject for artists and poets alike, and was the focus of one of Wagner’s finest and best-loved operas. In this portrait-like study, John Bedford has portrayed Yseult with a fair complexion and wavy hair, the ideal of feminine beauty at the time.
- Subjects (general)
- History and Legend Human Figures
- Subjects (specific)
- beauty busts (general, figures) literary characters Medievalism princesses three-quarter views women (female humans) wreaths (costume accessories)
- Provenance
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Exhibited Royal Academy, London, 1864, no. 26; purchased from the artist, by Sir Charles Eastlake, for the NGV, 1864.
Exhibited: Royal Academy, London, 1864, no. 26; Fine Arts Gallery (Compartment 10), Intercolonial Exhibition, Melbourne, 1866, no. 313; First Loan Exhibition of Works of Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1869, no. 492; The First Collections: The Public Library and the NGV in the 1850s and 1860s, Melbourne University Gallery, Melbourne, 1992, no. 2.
Colourmen
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- Colourman
- WINSOR & NEWTON
- Location of stamp
- Centre reverse of panel
- Transcript
- PREPARED PANEL/WINSOR & NEWTON,/ARTISTS' COLOURMEN/To Her Majesty/AND TO/HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT,/38, RATHBONE PLACE, LONDON
- Medium
- Printed paper label
- More Information
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National Portrait Gallery