Art Collections Online
Queen Eleanor
SANDYS, Frederick (1829 - 1904)
Date: 1858
Media: oil on canvas
Size: 40.6 x 30.5 cm
Acquired: 1981; Purchase
Accession Number: NMW A 185
A disciple of Rossetti, Sandys specialised in half-length figures of beautiful but often destructive women. His meticulous attention to detail is typical of the Pre-Raphaelite school. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (c.1122-1204), the wife of the English King Henry II, was reputed to have murdered his mistress Fair Rosamund and appears here with a poisoned cup and dagger. The red cord in her left hand is that which showed the way through the maze to Rosamund's bower.