John William Waterhouse | |
|---|---|
 Waterhouse,c. 1886 | |
| Born | |
| Baptised | 6 April 1849[1] |
| Died | 10 February 1917(1917-02-10) (aged 68) London, England |
| Works | Hylas and the Nymphs The Lady of Shalott The Magic Circle Ophelia A Mermaid |
| Movement | Pre-Raphaelite |
| Spouse | Esther Kenworthy Waterhouse |
John William WaterhouseRA (baptised 6 April 1849 – 10 February 1917) was anEnglish painter known for working first in theAcademic style and for then embracing thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His paintings are known for their depictions of women from both ancientGreek mythology andArthurian legend. A high proportion depict a single young and beautiful woman in a historical costume and setting, though there are some ventures intoOrientalist painting andgenre painting, still mostly featuring women.
Born inRome to English parents who were both painters, Waterhouse later moved to London, where he enrolled in theRoyal Academy of Art Schools. He soon began exhibiting at their annual summer exhibitions, focusing on the creation of largecanvas works depicting scenes from the daily life and mythology ofancient Greece. Many of his paintings are based on authors such asHomer,Ovid,[2]Shakespeare,Tennyson, orKeats.
Waterhouse's work is displayed in many major art museums and galleries, and theRoyal Academy of Art organised a major retrospective of his work in 2009.
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, includingDante Gabriel Rossetti,John Everett Millais andWilliam Holman Hunt, were first causing a stir in the London art scene.[3] The exact date of his birth is unknown, though he wasbaptised 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 inancient Rome or based upon scenes taken fromRoman mythology.
In 1854, the Waterhouses returned to England and moved to a newly built house inSouth Kensington, London, which was near to the newly foundedVictoria 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 theBritish Museum and theNational Gallery.[4] In 1871, he entered the Royal Academy of Art school, initially to study sculpture, before moving on to painting.
Waterhouse's early works were not Pre-Raphaelite in nature, but were ofclassical themes in the spirit ofAlma-Tadema andFrederic Leighton. These early works were exhibited at theDudley Gallery, and theSociety of British Artists, and in 1874 his paintingSleep and his Half-brother Death was exhibited at theRoyal 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 pieceAfter the Dance being given the prime position in that year's summer exhibition. Perhaps due to his success, his paintings typically became larger.[5]
Some of Waterhouse's early works have not been analysed or reviewed, and many are part ofprivate 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 areArab and there is no clear narrative origin, whereas Waterhouse tends to depict classical stories fromEurope.[6][7] 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 sketchAn Eastern Reminiscence.[8][9][10][11]Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1875-78) was completely unknown until the painting was discovered on theBBC television programmeThe Antiques Roadshow, featuring with a hole in the canvas.[12] It was included in Peter Trippi's Waterhousemonograph.[5]
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In 1883, Waterhouse marriedEsther Kenworthy, the daughter of an art schoolmaster fromEaling 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 theSt. 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 isThe Lady of Shalott, a study ofElaine of Astolat as depicted in the1832 poem byAlfred, Lord Tennyson, who dies of a mysterious curse after looking directly at the beautifulLancelot. He actually painted three different versions of this character, in 1888, 1894, and 1916. Another of Waterhouse's favorite subjects wasOphelia; 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. LikeThe 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 byDante Gabriel Rossetti andJohn Everett Millais.
He submitted his 1888Ophelia painting in order to receive his diploma from the Royal Academy. (He had originally wanted to submit a painting titledA 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 ofLord Lloyd-Webber. Waterhouse would paint Ophelia again in 1894 and 1909 or 1910, and he planned another painting in the series, calledOphelia in the Churchyard.
Waterhouse could not finish the series of Ophelia paintings because he was gravely ill withcancer by 1915. He died two years later, and his grave can be found atKensal Green Cemetery in London.[13]
In total, he produced 118 paintings. SeeList of paintings by John William Waterhouse for an almost complete list.
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