Lamia and the Soldier by John William Waterhouse

Lamia and the Soldier (1905) by JW Waterhouse is a vintage Victorian Pre-Raphaelite fine art mythological portrait painting. A beautiful young woman kneeling before a handsome man, a brave knight in shining armour. Lamia is a figure in Greek mythology who began as a beautiful mortal queen who angered the Olympian gods when she had an affair with Zeus. In a fit of jealous rage, the cruel goddess Hera cast a curse upon the queen and killed her children. She was a daughter of the god Poseidon, and the mother of the sea monsters Skylla and Akheilos. Lamia means lone shark. About the artist: John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) was an English Preraphaelite painter most famous for his paintings of female characters from ancient Greek mythology and literature.