Wednesday June 9 2010 3:39 pm
Lady Diamond
I’m working (for fun, and soon, for sale), on a set of drawings based on some of Child’s ballads. I got into English ballads when I was in middle school, obsessed (as were most girls I knew) with John William Waterhouse, Edward Burne-Jones, and Edmund Leighton, and because I had access both to my father’s extensive collection of English literature, and his collection of Steeleye Span records. But while many of my friends embraced the romanticism of ballads such as the Lady of Shalott, I gleefully gobbled up the more sinister works, such as Betsy Bell and Mary Gray, The Cruel Mother, and my personal favorite, Lady Diamond. I’d listened to “Lady Diamond” several times (it’s on Steeleye Span’s “Spanning the Years” compilation) before I actually listened to the lyrics, and when I did, I found it deliciously evil. On the off-chance that you don’t have an extensive Steeleye Span collection at your fingertips, here’s their version of the ballad:
There was a lord, a lord lived in the north country
He was a man of wealth and fame
He only had one child, a child but only one
And Lady Diamond was her name.
She did not love a lord, she did not love a king
She loved a kitchen boy, and William was his name
And though he brought her joy, he also brought her shame [In other versions of the ballad, it is made much more explicit that she has become pregnant by him.]
And he gave his heart to Lady Diamond.
“And his hair shines like gold,” said lady diamond
“And his eyes like crystal stones,” said lady diamond
“Bright as the silver moon,” she said, “bright as the sun that shines,”
“Bright as the silver moon,” she said, “bright as the sun that shines,”
On Lady Diamond.
It was a winter’s night, the lord could get no rest
To Lady Diamond’s room he came
He sat down on her bed just like a wondering ghost
“Now, Lady Diamond, tell me plain:
“Do you love a lord?” he said, “or do you love a king?”
“I love a kitchen boy, and William is his name.
And better I love that boy than all your well-bred men;
I have his heart,” said Lady Diamond.
“Oh, where are all my men,” he said, “that I gave meat and fee?
“Go fetch the kitchen boy and bring him here to me.”
They dragged him from the house and hung him on a tree,
And they gave his heart to Lady Diamond.
“And his hair shines like gold,” said Lady Diamond
“And his eyes like crystal stones,” said Lady Diamond
“Bright as the silver moon,” she said, “bright as the sun that shines,”
“Bright as the silver moon,” she said, “bright as the sun that shines,”
On Lady Diamond.
So, because one of my art teachers always told me, “draw what interests you — you’ll draw it better,” I decided to start my Child series with this one. While I already had lots of ideas floating around in my head for the image of Lady Diamond, I always feel that Research Is Necessary (this seems to be the most common cause of delay for any artistic project I undertake, and is an important reason why artists should never moonlight as academics). According to Wikipedia, “the story is derived from that of Ghismonda and Guiscardo from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio.” Further research on this led me to this Hogarth work:
William Hogarth is an idol of mine: I love his detail, his overflowing symbolism, and his unflinching displays of the most grotesque aspects of life in his time. I have to say, though, that this image doesn’t quite convey the sense of horror I’d hope to see in Sigismunda’s face — she looks scared, yes, but the rest of her pose is fairly relaxed, even nonchalant. Compare to some other depictions of the story:
Now those are some ladies who actually look like they’ve just been given the bloody heart of their lover in a golden cup.
I’ll be updating with some of these, and will be scanning in the works to save and perhaps colorize for a future collection; perhaps a book. The black-and-white originals, though, will be for sale, so watch this space…