Magic was a powerful tool and weapon in Arthurian legends. Femmes fatales like Morgan le Fay and Vivien used their knowledge of spells and enchantments along with their feminine guiles to gain power for themselves. Sorceresses like these women were challenging enemies who used anything they could without hesitation to attain their own goals.
WITCHES
In addition to femmes fatales of Greek myth, like Circe and Medea, and biblical figures like Judith, the late nineteenth-century European art world saw a dramatic increase in depictions of dangerous women from other mythologies and histories. Artists working in the conventions of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, especially, drew upon Arthurian legends in their depictions of sorceresses and enchantresses, while other artists extended the concept of femme fatale to its furthest extent – to represent in Woman the devil himself.
Witches and Devils
Frederick Sandys | 1864 An intensely focused Morgan le Fay, adversary to King Arthur and skilled enchantress, is portrayed here at the moment she casts a spell. Her regal purple cloak, golden skirt and exotic cheetah skin are indications of Morgan's strength and status. Morgan's politically-aimed seductions and deceptive guile coupled with her power in sorcery to make her a femme fatale.
(Merlin and Vivien) Edward Burne-Jones | 1874 Though the story of Merlin and Vivien has been changed and altered countless times, the 1859 publication of Tennyson's "Merlin and Vivien" firmly established Vivien as a femme fatale. She deceived Merlin into revealing powerful magic to her through her feminine wiles; when Merlin finally gave her the incantation she sought, she promptly cast the spell over him to seal the once-powerful sorcerer away forever.
John William Waterhouse | 1886 Here Waterhouse depicts an unnamed sorceress concocting enchantments or potions within a cauldron. Her purpose and aims are unknown to all but her. She is entirely she absorbed in her work and has no interest in acknowledging the viewer whatsoever. She presides over the canvas just as she presides over her own life. This independence coupled with her purpose and concentration create a figure both intriguing and commanding.
Frederick Sandys | 1864 An intensely focused Morgan le Fay, adversary to King Arthur and skilled enchantress, is portrayed here at the moment she casts a spell. Her regal purple cloak, golden skirt and exotic cheetah skin are indications of Morgan's strength and status. Morgan's politically-aimed seductions and deceptive guile coupled with her power in sorcery to make her a femme fatale.
In the furthest extension of the forces at play behind the femme fatale motif, the dangerous woman ceases to be an individual and becomes merely a symbol for sin and Man's downfall – a stand-in for death and the devil incarnate. She is no longer her own being, acting out of her own aims; she becomes a guise of the devil, a vessel of worldly evil.
DEVILS
Félicien Rops | 1878 St. Anthony's temptations while in the deserts of Egypt had, of course, already been steadily depicted in art for centuries when Rops created this piece in 1878. Here, Temptation is presented as a nude, voluptuous woman, grinning with flushed cheeks, whom the devil has tied to the crucifix in place of Jesus. Skeletal putti at top left reassert Eros' direct link to downfall and death.
Arthur Hacker | 1894 Percival was one of the most virtuous, most noble knights of Arthurian legend – Hacker even gives him a halo. While on his quest for the Holy Grail, Percival was plagued by the Devil himself in the guise of a ruthless seductress, prowling and clamoring after the pious knight. Here, just as Percival is about to take a sip from her enchanted cup, he is reminded of his holy mission by the his sword's cross-like shape and escapes the femme-devil's grasp. §
John William Waterhouse | 1893 In Keats' poem of the same title, a knight is seduced by La Belle Dame and taken to a secret place, where after falling asleep he dreams of all the past men she's conquered – all of them now dead. He awakes, disoriented, but manages to leave and save himself. Note the similarities in Waterhouse's and Hacker's women: both are close to the ground in a forested scene, coiled in a tight, crouched posture, with draping gowns and boring eyes which bely their aims.
Félicien Rops | 1878 St. Anthony's temptations while in the deserts of Egypt had, of course, already been steadily depicted in art for centuries when Rops created this piece in 1878. Here, Temptation is presented as a nude, voluptuous woman, grinning with flushed cheeks, whom the devil has tied to the crucifix in place of Jesus. Skeletal putti at top left reassert Eros' direct link to downfall and death.
§ (Oele, pg.144)