Illustrations of Alfred Tennysons Idylls of the King
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Read, James. Illustrations of Alfred Tennysons Idylls of the King. Portfolio of Drawings, 1860.
British artist James Read created a portfolio of drawings (never printed and existing only in manuscript) in what was probably also a submission to the Art Union contest won by Paolo Priolo. Read's drawings could be lively, as in his illustration of the fairies' dance (described to the novice by her father), but he was clearly more amateurish than Priolo; and it is easy see why his was not the winning entry. His fairies, for example, seem more like miniature children or devils or Pan and his worshippers than sprites. While neither Priolo nor Read depict Elaine in the barge, the image that inspired so many other Victorian artists, both Priolo and Read show a dead Elaine after her body has been taken from the barge into Arthur's court. There are a number of other scenes that both artists include, such as the enchantment of Merlin by Vivien. But, if the Read portfolio was indeed a contest entry, it seems that the Art Union did not have a list of required topics or even a set number of illustrations. Still, the fact that forty-three artists created illustrations to the Idylls and that these illustrations were exhibited, not to mention the fact that the Idylls were chosen as the subject of the contest in the first place, attests to the popularity of Tennyson's Arthurian poems and demonstrates one of many ways that images from them were presented to the public.
