Idylls of the King 1913

Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale made this watercolor, 'Idylls of the King,' sometime in the early 20th century, and it feels like a really lush stage set for a fable. Brickdale’s mark-making is super controlled; there’s such precision, almost like she’s stitching the colours into place. The texture and surface are so smooth, like looking through glass. The folds in the queen's red skirt and the lilys look almost photographic, they're rendered so skillfully. And then you notice that the red pigment bleeds slightly, which feels accidental and human in the context of such a deliberate image. I find myself thinking about the Pre-Raphaelites and their obsession with detail, though maybe this feels a little less intense. Like the paintings of Edward Burne-Jones, it's more about creating a mood of otherworldly beauty. It’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, artists borrowing and reimagining each other’s ideas through time.