This article accompanies the fable
The Woman in the Bower


The Tristan and Yseult legend

The legend of Tristan and Yseult (or Isolde) was extremely popular among pre-Raphaelite painters such as Edmund Leighton who tackled the subject in 1907 (below). Tristan's harp is a key part of the story - it is what first entrances Yseult and enables them to fall in love - although they don't know it. As Joseph Campbell put it, the legend dramatizes a conflict between love and marriage, in an era when aristocratic families were forced into arranged marriages that had little to do with love.

For other related paintings and links, see:

Wagner opera Tristan and Isolde
Salvador Dali's satirical painting Tristan and Isolde
Tristan's Stone, a grave marker in Fowey, Cornwall