Blog Refurbishing

August 9, 2011 at 6:50 pm (painting) (Art, painting, poetry)

I think Museworthy could use a little sprucing up, don’t you agree? Nothing major. It’s just that I haven’t made any changes in the sidebar/links in a really long time, nor have I updated the About page, Events and News, or introduced any new features. I have been lazy and neglectful  But I’m on top of it now and have some ideas I’m considering. Also, reader suggestions are welcome, so don’t hesitate to share!

Right now I’m in the mood for some John William Waterhouse, so we have the beautiful The Lady Clare, from 1900. This painting was inspired by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s wonderful poem in which a young woman decides she cannot enter into a marriage on false pretenses regarding her birth station. Lord Ronald had proposed to her, and given her a white doe, thinking she was of aristocratic lineage. When Lady Clare is told that she was really just the child of a poor nurse who substituted her as a newborn for the real baby Lady Clare who died in infancy, Clare is compelled to reveal the truth to Lord Ronald. The nurse implores her not to tell him, to just go ahead with the marriage and keep her mouth shut about the whole thing. But Lady Clare could not in good conscience carry such a secret for the rest of her life. She needed to tell Lord Ronald the truth – that she was not an heiress, but “a beggar born”, and let the chips fall where they may. How do you think the story ends? Read this illustrated version of the poem and find out