In 60 seconds: Waterhouse’s ‘A Mermaid’
By Tiffany Greenoak
Published 2 February 2021
Spend 60 seconds exploring the dark mythology behind John William Waterhouse RA’s ‘A Mermaid’.
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Learn about the dangerous enchantresses who lured sailors to watery graves. Possibly inspired by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘The Mermaid’ (1830), the painting depicts unsatisfied desires with gentle melancholy.
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