John William Waterhouse

John William Waterhouse

John William Waterhouse (baptised 6 April 1849 – 10 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His paintings are known for their depictions of women from both ancient Greek mythology, Arthurian legend, and the works of William Shakespeare. A high proportion depict a single young and beautiful woman in a historical costume and setting, though there are some ventures into Orientalist painting and genre painting, still mostly featuring women.

Born in Rome to English parents who were both painters, Waterhouse later moved to London, where he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Art Schools. He soon began exhibiting at their annual summer exhibitions, focusing on the creation of large canvas works depicting scenes from the daily life and mythology of ancient Greece. Many of his paintings are based on authors such as Homer, Ovid, Shakespeare, Tennyson, or Keats.

Waterhouse's work is displayed in many major art museums and galleries, and the Royal Academy of Art organised a major retrospective of his work in 2009.

Biography

Early life

Waterhouse was born in the city of Rome to the English painters William and Isabella Waterhouse in 1849, in the same year that the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, were first causing a stir in the London art scene. The exact date of his birth is unknown, though he was baptised on 6 April, and the later scholar of Waterhouse's work, Peter Trippi, believed that he was born between 1 and 23 January. His early life in Italy has been cited as one of the reasons many of his later paintings were set in ancient Rome or based upon scenes taken from Roman mythology.

In 1854, the Waterhouses returned to England and moved to a newly built house in South Kensington, London, which was near to the newly founded Victoria and Albert Museum. Waterhouse, or 'Nino' as he was nicknamed, coming from an artistic family, was encouraged to become involved in drawing, and often sketched artworks that he found in the British Museum and the National Gallery. In 1871, he entered the Royal Academy of Art school, initially to study sculpture, before moving on to painting.

Early career

Sleep and his Half-brother Death, 1874

Waterhouse's early works were not Pre-Raphaelite in nature, but were of classical themes in the spirit of Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton. These early works were exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, and the Society of British Artists, and in 1874 his painting Sleep and his Half-brother Death was exhibited at the Royal Academy summer exhibition. The painting was a success and Waterhouse would exhibit at the annual exhibition every year until 1916, with the exception of 1890 and 1915. He then went from strength to strength in the London art scene, his 1876 piece After the Dance being given the prime position in that year's summer exhibition. Perhaps due to his success, his paintings typically became larger.

Some of Waterhouse's early works have not been analysed or reviewed, and many are part of private collections so very few people have access to them. The Slave (1872) has no analysis despite its complicated subject matter evoked by the title and scene, as well as the curiosity of the unusual subjects: they are Arab and there is no clear narrative origin, whereas Waterhouse tends to depict classical stories from Europe. However, a sketch book of Waterhouse's from this period included other studies of Arab models, indicating a fascination with the oriental that did not last beyond his early art. This can further be seen in the sketch An Eastern Reminiscence. Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1875-78) was completely unknown until the painting was discovered on the BBC television programme The Antiques Roadshow, featuring with a hole in the canvas. It was included in Peter Trippi's Waterhouse monograph.

• The Slave, 1872 • An Eastern Reminiscence (sketch), c. 1874 • Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1875-78

Later career

In 1883, Waterhouse married Esther Kenworthy, the daughter of an art schoolmaster from Ealing who had exhibited her own flower-paintings at the Royal Academy and elsewhere. In 1895 Waterhouse was elected to the status of full Academician. He taught at the St. John's Wood Art School, joined the St John's Wood Arts Club, and served on the Royal Academy Council.

One of Waterhouse's best known subjects is The Lady of Shalott, a study of Elaine of Astolat as depicted in the 1832 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who dies of a mysterious curse after looking directly at the beautiful Lancelot. He actually painted three different versions of this character, in 1888, 1894, and 1916. Another of Waterhouse's favorite subjects was Ophelia; the most familiar of his paintings of Ophelia depicts her just before her death, putting flowers in her hair as she sits on a tree branch leaning over a lake. Like The Lady of Shalott and other Waterhouse paintings, it deals with a woman dying in or near water. He may also have been inspired by paintings of Ophelia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais.

Good Neighbours (or Gossip), 1885

He submitted his 1888 Ophelia painting in order to receive his diploma from the Royal Academy. (He had originally wanted to submit a painting titled A Mermaid, but it was not completed in time.) After this, the painting was lost until the 20th century. It is now displayed in the collection of Lord Lloyd-Webber. Waterhouse would paint Ophelia again in 1894 and 1909 or 1910, and he planned another painting in the series, called Ophelia in the Churchyard.

Waterhouse could not finish the series of Ophelia paintings because he was gravely ill with cancer by 1915. He died two years later, and his grave can be found at Kensal Green Cemetery in London.

Gallery

John William Waterhouse

In total, he produced 118 paintings. See List of paintings by John William Waterhouse for an almost complete list.

1870s

• Undine 1872 • Gone, But Not Forgotten 1873 • The Unwelcome Companion: A Street Scene in Cairo 1873 • La Fileuse 1874 • In the Peristyle 1874 • Miranda 1875 • After the Dance 1876 • A Sick Child brought into the Temple of Aesculapius 1877 • The Remorse of the Emperor Nero after the Murder of his Mother 1878

1880s

• Dolce far Niente 1880 • Diogenes 1882 • The Favourites of the Emperor Honorius 1883 • Consulting the Oracle 1884 • Saint Eulalia 1885 • The Magic Circle 1886 • Mariamne Leaving the Judgement Seat of Herod 1887 • The Lady of Shalott 1888 • Cleopatra 1888 • Ophelia 1889

1890s

• A Roman Offering 1890 • Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses 1891 • Ulysses and the Sirens 1891 • Danaë 1892 • Circe Invidiosa 1892 • Gathering Summer Flowers in a Devonshire Garden 1892-1893 • A Naiad or Hylas with a Nymph 1893 • La Belle Dame sans Merci 1893 • A Female Study 1894 • The Lady of Shalott Looking at Lancelot 1894 • Ophelia 1894 • The Shrine 1895 • Saint Cecilia 1895 • Hylas and the Nymphs 1896 • Pandora 1896 • Juliet 1898 • Ariadne 1898

1900s

• The Siren 1900 • Destiny 1900 • The Lady Clare 1900 • Study for Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus 1900 • Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus 1900 • A Mermaid 1901 • The Crystal Ball 1902 • The Missal 1902 • Windflowers 1902 • Boreas 1903 • Echo and Narcissus 1903 • Psyche Opening the Golden Box 1903 • Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid's Garden 1904 • Lamia (version 1) 1905 • The Danaides, 1906 • Jason and Medea 1907 • Isabella and the pot of basil 1907 • The Bouquet (a study) 1908 • Gather Ye Rosebuds or Ophelia (a study) c. 1908 • Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May… 1908 • The Soul of the Rose or My Sweet Rose 1908 • Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May 1909 • Lamia (version 2) 1909 • Thisbe 1909

1910s

• Ophelia 1910 • Spring Spreads One Green Lap of Flowers 1910 • The Charmer 1911 • The Sorceress c. 1911-1915 • Penelope and the Suitors 1912 • The Annunciation 1914 • Dante and Matilda (study) (formerly called "Dante and Beatrice") c. 1914–17 • Matilda (study) (formerly called "Beatrice") c. 1915 • I am Half-Sick of Shadows, said the Lady of Shalott 1916 • A Tale from the Decameron 1916 • Miranda (The Tempest) 1916 • Tristan and Isolde 1916