With so many magical and dramatic characters and scenes to explore, the Arthurian legend has long been a rich source of inspiration for artists and illustrators. To complement our literary studies, I thought it would be fun this year to look at some pictures as well. Here are a few images that caught my eye, all drawn from The Camelot Project, a great resource for anyone interested in the subject.
16 thoughts on “Witch Week Day Four: A Gallery of Arthurian Art”
The Camelot Project is such a great resource, isn’t it? Great bibliographies (including one on modern Arthurian short stories by a one-time correspondent Larry Mendelsberg — http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/mendelsberg-modern-arthurian-short-stories — see Section C under Pendragon) as well as the comprehensive pictorial galleries.
Among my favourites are Edward Burne-Jones’ Holy Grail tapestries which have occasional outings at the UK’s Birmingham Art Gallery; last time I visited it even included a rare entry in the series which had been loaned by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
All of these are wonderful, and I’ll be checking out the Camelot Project as soon as I have time. One of my favorite Arthurian artists is Frank Godwin, my step-great-grandfather. You can see some a few of them here. Sadly, the link to the page at The Golden Age is broken, because the website is gone, but the three images I posted will give you the idea.)
Wow–The Sleep of King Arthur in Avalon has such a gorgeous, sumptuous color scheme. I love the two-dimensional style of How a Maiden Bare in the Sangreal as well. What an interesting piece.
What an interesting bookish topic this is! I definitely love Arthurian legends, but part of the fun of them is all the different interpretations of it all. This was a fun post.
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
The Camelot Project is such a great resource, isn’t it? Great bibliographies (including one on modern Arthurian short stories by a one-time correspondent Larry Mendelsberg — http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/mendelsberg-modern-arthurian-short-stories — see Section C under Pendragon) as well as the comprehensive pictorial galleries.
Among my favourites are Edward Burne-Jones’ Holy Grail tapestries which have occasional outings at the UK’s Birmingham Art Gallery; last time I visited it even included a rare entry in the series which had been loaned by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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One could spend a lot of time trolling that site, and I also like that they’ve made it so attractive.
I would love to see the Holy Grail tapestries – must make a note of it in case I ever get to Birmingham. 🙂
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All of these are wonderful, and I’ll be checking out the Camelot Project as soon as I have time. One of my favorite Arthurian artists is Frank Godwin, my step-great-grandfather. You can see some a few of them here. Sadly, the link to the page at The Golden Age is broken, because the website is gone, but the three images I posted will give you the idea.)
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What a neat connection! He doesn’t seem to have a page in the Camelot project, alas.
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Wow–The Sleep of King Arthur in Avalon has such a gorgeous, sumptuous color scheme. I love the two-dimensional style of How a Maiden Bare in the Sangreal as well. What an interesting piece.
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I’d love to explore the Burne-Jones in more detail — the small image gives only a general impression.
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Nice! Although Launcelot is going to wake up with a bad crick in his neck. Thanks for finding these!
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Goodness, yes, and how does he sleep propped up on his wrist like that?
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These are wonderful. I like so many, especially the Burne-Jones and Beardsley and I especially like the Cameron.
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I love her photos!
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I LOVE the tone of H.J. Ford – Excalibur Returns to the Mere!
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I have a soft spot for HJ Ford since I grew up on his illustrations for the Andrew Lang fairy books.
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I absolutely love Arthur Rackham. Now I need to look up Pogany since that is a beautiful illustration.
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If you love Rackham, I think you will appreciate Pogany too. I have some books with his illustrations and they are beautiful.
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What an interesting bookish topic this is! I definitely love Arthurian legends, but part of the fun of them is all the different interpretations of it all. This was a fun post.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it – I had fun putting it together.
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