John William Waterhouse: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 01:56, 16 March 2009
John William Waterhouse | |
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File:Waterhouse portrait.jpg | |
Nationality | British |
Education | Royal Academy |
Known for | Painter |
Notable work | Hylas and the Nymphs The Lady of Shalott Ophelia |
Movement | Pre-Raphaelite |
John William Waterhouse (6 April 1849 — 10 February 1917) was an English Pre-Raphaelite painter most famous for his paintings of female characters from mythology and literature. He belonged to the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Early life
He was born in Rome to the painters William and Isabela Waterhouse, but when he was five the family moved to South Kensington, near the newly founded Victoria and Albert Museum. He studied painting under his father before entering the Royal Academy schools in 1870. His early works were of classical themes in the spirit of Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton, and were exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists and the Dudley Gallery.
Later career
In 1874, at the age of twenty-five, Waterhouse submitted the classical allegory Sleep and His Half-Brother Death to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition. The painting was very well received and he exhibited at the RA almost every year afterwards until his death in 1917. In 1883 he married Esther Kenworthy, the daughter of an art schoolmaster from Ealing who had exhibited her own flower-paintings at the Royal Academy and elsewhere. They had two children, but both died in childhood. 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 most famous paintings is The Lady of Shalott, a study of Elaine of Astolat, who dies of grief when Lancelot will not love her. He actually painted three different versions of this character, in 1888, 1894, and 1916. Another of Waterhouse's favorite subjects was Ophelia; the most famous 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 also may have been inspired by paintings of Ophelia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Millais. He submitted his Ophelia painting of 1888 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, and is now displayed in the collection of Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Waterhouse would paint Ophelia again in 1894 and 1909 or 1910, and 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
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 -
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 Favorites of the Emperor Honorius
1883 -
Consulting the Oracle
1884 -
Saint Eulalia
1885 -
Magic Circle
1886 -
The Lady of Shalott
1888 -
Cleopatra
1888 -
Ophelia
1889
1890s
-
A Roman Offering
1890 -
Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus
1891 -
Ulysses and the Sirens
1891 -
Danaë
1892 -
Circe Invidiosa
1892 -
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 -
Pandora
1896 -
Juliet
1898
1900s
-
The Siren
circa 1900 -
Destiny
1900 -
The Lady Clare
1900 -
Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus
1900 -
The Mermaid
1901 -
The Crystal Ball
1902 -
The Missal
1902 -
Windswept
1902 -
Boreas
1903 -
Psyche Opening the Golden Box
1903 -
Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid's Garden
1904 -
Lamia
(version 1)
1905 -
Jason and Medea
1907 -
The Bouquet
(a study)
1908 -
Gather Ye Rosebuds or Ophelia (a study)
circa 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 -
Penelope and the Suitors
1912 -
The Annunciation
1914 -
Beatrice
Circa 1915 -
Dante and Beatrice
1915 -
I am half-sick of shadows, said the Lady of Shalott
1916 -
A Tale from the Decameron
1916 -
Miranda -- The Tempest
1916
See also
External links
- John William Waterhouse (The Art and Life of JW Waterhouse);
- John William Waterhouse (Comprehensive Painting Gallery)
- "J.W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite": information about the upcoming exhibition 2008-2010
- Galleries Guide to Waterhouse Works Worldwide
- Waterhouse at Tate Britain
- Echo and Narcissus (1903)
- John William Waterhouse at artrenewal.org
- Ten Dreams Galleries
- John William Waterhouse in the "History of Art"
- Scent and femininity in John William Waterhouse's "The Soul of the Rose"
- Hundreds of images by the artist online.
References
- Benezit, E. (2006). Waterhouse, John William. In Dictionary of Artists (Vol 14, pp 668-669). Paris:Grund.
- Trippi, P. (2002). J.W.Waterhouse. New York, NY: Phaidon Press Limited.