Margaret Macdonald

British, 1863 - 1933

The May Queen (detail)

Date: 1900

One of three panels for the Ladies Luncheon Room, Ingram Street Tea Rooms.
(Oil painted gesso on hessian and scrim, set with twine, glass beads, thread, mother-of-pearl, and tin leaf panel)

The May Queen was a girl chosen, especially for her beauty, to preside over the May Day celebrations (the first day of May, traditionally a celebration of the coming of Spring).

The eve of May 1st is known as Walpurgis Night, which is believed in German folklore to be the night of a witches' sabbath on the Brocken, in the Harz Mountains.

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