• Source: The Meeting on the Turret Stairs

The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (or Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs) is a watercolour painting from 1864 by Frederic William Burton. It was painted in London, where Burton later became Director of the National Gallery. The painting is housed in the National Gallery of Ireland.
It was voted by the Irish public as Ireland's favourite painting in 2012 from among 10 works shortlisted by critics.




Subject


The subject of the painting is the love story of Hellelil, who fell in love with her personal guard Hildebrand. The story was taken from a medieval Danish ballad translated as Hellalyle and Hildebrand by the painter's friend Whitley Stokes and published in Fraser's Magazine, 1855, Vol. 51, p. 89.
The poet's sister Margaret Stokes later presented it to the museum.

The translation of the same poem by William Morris called Hildebrand And Hellelil is more famous:

Original Scandinavian ballads are Stolts Hilla (Geijer & Afzelius #32) and Hilla Lilla (Ahlström No. 268).
George Eliot noted about it: ‘The subject might have been made the most vulgar thing in the world – the artist has raised it to the highest pitch of refined emotion’.




References






External links


National Gallery of Ireland: Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• The Meeting on the Turret Stairs
• Frederic William Burton
• National Gallery of Ireland
• Whitley Stokes (Celtic scholar)
• Stairs
• Earl Brand
• Vaskilintu
• Quinta da Regaleira
• Tower of London
• Peabody City Hall