Myths & Legends
Like many of the Pre-Raphaelites Sandys chose to
paint figures from well-known myths, legends and stories. Although these
paintings were not accompanied by a text, the public would have known who
the figure was and their story.
Sandys helps the viewer, though, by including hundreds of details which act
as clues in case the story is not so well known. In this picture of ‘Morgan Le
Fay’, Sandys shows us that she is a sorceress – as well as her pose, there
are all sorts of pots containing potions and scrolls of spells. We can also see
that she lived a long time ago, before Christianity entered Britain, as there are
pagan looking statues and wall hangings, as well as Celtic or Pictish patterns
on her dress. We can also tell that she is a fairly important or wealthy person
– her clothes are richly decorated and made from lots of material. All these
things help the viewer to decipher what is going on and to strengthen the
story.