John William Waterhouse

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John William Waterhouse
Hylas and the Nymphs
The Lady of Shalott
The Magic Circle
Ophelia
A Mermaid
MovementPre-Raphaelite
SpouseEsther Kenworthy Waterhouse

John William Waterhouse

Orientalist painting and genre painting
, still mostly featuring women.

Born in

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,[2] 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.[3] 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.[1] 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.[4] 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

Royal Academy summer exhibition.[5] 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.[5]

Later career

In 1883, Waterhouse married

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

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.[6]

Gallery

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

1870s

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

1880s

1890s

1900s

  • The Siren 1900
    The Siren
    1900
  • Destiny 1900
    Destiny
    1900
  • The Lady Clare 1900
    The Lady Clare
    1900
  • Study for Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus 1900
    Study for Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus
    1900
  • Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus 1900
    Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus
    1900
  • The Mermaid 1901
    The Mermaid
    1901
  • The Crystal Ball 1902
    The Crystal Ball
    1902
  • The Missal 1902
    The Missal
    1902
  • Windflowers 1902
    Windflowers
    1902
  • Boreas 1903
    Boreas

    1903
  • Echo and Narcissus 1903
    Echo and Narcissus
    1903
  • Psyche Opening the Golden Box 1903
    Psyche Opening the Golden Box
    1903
  • Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid's Garden 1904
    Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid's Garden
    1904
  • Lamia (version 1) 1905
    Lamia
    (version 1)
    1905
  • The Danaides, 1906
    The Danaides, 1906
  • Jason and Medea 1907
    Jason and Medea
    1907
  • Isabella and the pot of basil 1907
    Isabella and the pot of basil
    1907
  • The Bouquet (a study) 1908
    The Bouquet
    (a study)
    1908
  • Gather Ye Rosebuds or Ophelia (a study) c. 1908
    Gather Ye Rosebuds or Ophelia (a study)
    c. 1908
  • Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May… 1908
    Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May…
    1908
  • The Soul of the Rose or My Sweet Rose 1908
    The Soul of the Rose or My Sweet Rose
    1908
  • Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May 1909
    Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
    1909
  • Lamia (version 2) 1909
    Lamia
    (version 2)
    1909
  • Thisbe 1909
    Thisbe
    1909

1910s

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

    1916
  • A Tale from the Decameron 1916
    A Tale from the Decameron
    1916
  • Miranda – The Tempest 1916
    Miranda – The Tempest
    1916
  • Tristan and Isolde 1916
    Tristan and Isolde
    1916

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Trippi 2002, p. 9.
  2. ^ Severino, Carlos Mesquita (2019). Representações das Metamorphoses de Ovídio em J. W. Waterhouse (masterThesis). Lisboa: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa.
  3. ^ Trippi 2002, p. 4.
  4. ^ Trippi 2002, p. 14.
  5. ^ a b Trippi, Peter; Prettejohn, Elizabeth; Upstone, Robert. J.M. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite Gallery Guide. The Royal Academy of Art. 2009.
  6. ^ J.W. Waterhouse and the Magic of Color

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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