John William Waterhouse

{{Infobox person

| spouse= Esther Kenworthy Waterhouse

| name = John William Waterhouse

| image = The late John William Waterhouse in his studio.jpg

| caption = Waterhouse, {{circa|1886}}

| baptised = 6 April 1849{{sfn|Trippi|2002|p=9}}

| birth_place = Rome, Roman Republic
{{small|(now Rome, Italy)}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1917|2|10|1849|1|23}}

| death_place = London, England

| nationality = British

| movement = Pre-Raphaelite

| works = Hylas and the Nymphs
The Lady of Shalott
The Magic Circle
Ophelia
A Mermaid

| awards =

}}

John William Waterhouse {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|RA}} (baptised 6 April 1849{{spnd}}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 and Arthurian legend. 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,{{Cite thesis|url=https://repositorio.ul.pt/handle/10451/37067|title=Representações das Metamorphoses de Ovídio em J. W. Waterhouse|last=Severino|first=Carlos Mesquita|publisher=Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa|year=2019|location=Lisboa|type=masterThesis }} 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.{{sfn|Trippi|2002|p=4}} 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.{{sfn|Trippi|2002|p=9}} 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.{{sfn|Trippi|2002|p=14}} In 1871, he entered the Royal Academy of Art school, initially to study sculpture, before moving on to painting.

=Early career=

Image:Waterhouse-sleep and his half-brother death-1874.jpg, 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.Trippi, Peter; Prettejohn, Elizabeth; Upstone, Robert. J.M. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite Gallery Guide. The Royal Academy of Art. 2009. 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.

=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.

File:John William Waterhouse - Gossip.jpg

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.[https://books.google.com/books?id=FvcwDgAAQBAJ&dq=john+waterhouse+Kensal+Green+Cemetery&pg=PA11 J.W. Waterhouse and the Magic of Color]

Gallery

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

=1870s=

File:Ondine (Waterhouse).jpg|Undine
1872

File:Gone But Not Forgotten - John William Waterhouse.jpg|Gone, But Not Forgotten
1873

File:John William Waterhouse- The Unwelcome Companion - a Street Scene in Cairo.JPG|The Unwelcome Companion: A Street Scene in Cairo
1873

File:John William Waterhouse, La Fileuse.jpg|La Fileuse
1874

File:Peristyle.jpg|In the Peristyle
1874

File:Miranda - John William Waterhouse.jpg|Miranda
1875

File:John William Waterhouse-After the Dance-1876.jpg|After the Dance
1876

File:John William Waterhouse - A Sick Child brought into the Temple of Aesculapius (1877).jpg|A Sick Child brought into the Temple of Aesculapius
1877

File:John William Waterhouse, The Remorse of Nero After the Murder of His Mother.jpg|The Remorse of the Emperor Nero after the Murder of his Mother
1878

=1880s=

Image:John William Waterhouse - Dolce Far Niente (1880).jpg|Dolce far Niente
1880

Image:Waterhouse-Diogenes.jpg|Diogenes
1882

Image:John Williams Waterhouse - The Favourites of the Emperor Honorius (1883).jpg|The Favourites of the Emperor Honorius
1883

File:John William Waterhouse - Consulting the Oracle - Christie's.jpg|Consulting the Oracle
1884

Image:John William Waterhouse - Saint Eulalia - 1885.jpg|Saint Eulalia
1885

Image:John William Waterhouse - Magic Circle.JPG|The Magic Circle
1886

Image:John William Waterhouse-Mariamne Leaving the Judgement Seat of Herod-1887.jpg|Mariamne Leaving the Judgement Seat of Herod
1887

Image:John William Waterhouse - The Lady of Shalott - Google Art Project edit.jpg|The Lady of Shalott
1888

Image:Cleopatra - John William Waterhouse.jpg|Cleopatra
1888

Image:JWW Ophelia 1889.jpg|Ophelia
1889

=1890s=

File:A Roman Offering - JWW.jpg|A Roman Offering
1890

File:Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus.jpg|Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses
1891

File:WATERHOUSE - Ulises y las Sirenas (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1891. Óleo sobre lienzo, 100.6 x 202 cm).jpg|Ulysses and the Sirens
1891

File:John_William_Waterhouse_Danaë.jpg|Danaë
1892

File:Circe Invidiosa - John William Waterhouse.jpg|Circe Invidiosa
1892

File:John William Waterhouse-Gathering Summer Flowers in a Devonshire Garden-1893.jpg|Gathering Summer Flowers in a Devonshire Garden
1892-1893

File:A Naiad or Hylas with a Nymph by John William Waterhouse (1893).jpg|A Naiad or Hylas with a Nymph
1893

File:John William Waterhouse - La Belle Dame sans Merci (1893).jpg|La Belle Dame sans Merci
1893

File:A Female Study - John William Waterhouse.jpg|A Female Study
1894

File:The Lady of Shalott Looking at Lancelot.jpg|The Lady of Shalott Looking at Lancelot
1894

File:Ophelia 1894.jpg|Ophelia
1894

File:John William Waterhouse - The Shrine.JPG|The Shrine
1895

File:Waterhouse stcecilia.jpg|Saint Cecilia
1895

File:Waterhouse Hylas and the Nymphs Manchester Art Gallery 1896.15.jpg|Hylas and the Nymphs
1896

File:John William Waterhouse - Pandora, 1896.jpg|Pandora
1896

File:John William Waterhouse - Juliet.jpg|Juliet
1898

File:John William Waterhouse Ariadne.jpg|Ariadne
1898

=1900s=

File:John William Waterhouse-The Siren-1900.jpg|The Siren
1900

File:John william waterhouse destiny.jpg|Destiny
1900

File:The Lady Clare.jpg|The Lady Clare
1900

File:John William Waterhouse, Study for Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus.png|Study for Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus
1900

File:Nymphs finding the Head of Orpheus.jpg|Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus
1900

File:John William Waterhouse A Mermaid.jpg|A Mermaid
1901

File:John William Waterhouse - The Crystal Ball.JPG|The Crystal Ball
1902

File:John William Waterhouse - The Missal.JPG|The Missal
1902

File:Windswept by John William Waterhouse.jpg|Windflowers
1902

File:John William Waterhouse - Boreas (1903).jpg|Boreas
1903

File:John William Waterhouse - Echo and Narcissus - Google Art Project.jpg|Echo and Narcissus
1903

File:Psyche-Waterhouse.jpg|Psyche Opening the Golden Box
1903

File:Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid's Garden.jpg|Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid's Garden
1904

File:Lamia and the Soldier.jpg|Lamia
(version 1)
1905

File:The Danaides by John William Waterhouse - John William Waterhouse - ABDAG003402.jpg|The Danaides, 1906

File:Jason and Medea - John William Waterhouse.jpg|Jason and Medea
1907

File:John william waterhouse isabella and the pot of basil.jpg|Isabella and the pot of basil
1907

File:The Bouquet (study).jpg|The Bouquet
(a study)
1908

File:Gather Ye Rosebuds - Ophelia.jpg|Gather Ye Rosebuds or Ophelia (a study)
{{circa|1908}}

File:Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May.jpg|Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May…
1908

File:John William Waterhouse - The Soul of the Rose, aka My Sweet Rose.JPG|The Soul of the Rose or My Sweet Rose
1908

File:Waterhouse-gather ye rosebuds-1909.jpg|Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
1909

File:Lamia Waterhouse.jpg|Lamia
(version 2)
1909

File:John William Waterhouse - Thisbe, 1909.jpg|Thisbe
1909

=1910s=

File:Ophelia 1910.jpg|Ophelia
1910

File:John William Waterhouse - Spring Spreads One Green Lap of Flowers.JPG|Spring Spreads One Green Lap of Flowers
1910

File:Waterhouse - The Charmer.jpg|The Charmer
1911

File:Waterhouse, JW - The Sorceress (1913).jpg|The Sorceress
{{Circa|1911}}-1915

File:JohnWilliamWaterhouse-PenelopeandtheSuitors(1912).jpg|Penelope and the Suitors
1912

File:John William Waterhouse - The Annunciation.JPG|The Annunciation
1914

File:John William Waterhouse - Dante and Matilda.jpg|Dante and Matilda (study) (formerly called "Dante and Beatrice")
{{c.|1914–17}}

File:John William Waterhouse - Matilda (formerly called "Beatrice").jpg|Matilda (study) (formerly called "Beatrice")
{{c.|1915}}

File:John William Waterhouse - I am half-sick of shadows, said the lady of shalott.JPG|I am Half-Sick of Shadows, said the Lady of Shalott
1916

File:1916-a-tale-from-the-decameron-.jpg|A Tale from the Decameron
1916

File:Miranda - The Tempest JWW.jpg|Miranda (The Tempest)
1916

File:John william waterhouse tristan and isolde with the potion.jpg|Tristan and Isolde
1916

References

=Notes=

=Bibliography=

{{Cite book|last=Trippi|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Trippi|year=2002|title=J. W. Waterhouse|location=New York, New York|publisher=Phaidon Press|isbn=9780714842325}}

External links

[http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.net/ John William Waterhouse.net]
[http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com/home/ John William Waterhouse (The Art and Life of JW Waterhouse)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214050126/http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com/home/ |date=14 February 2020 }};
[http://www.jwwaterhouse.com John William Waterhouse (Comprehensive Painting Gallery)]
[http://www.jwwaterhouse.net/ John William Waterhouse (1849–1917)]
[http://www.artble.com/artists/john_william_waterhouse/more_information/style_and_technique John William Waterhouse Style and Technique]
[http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=583&page=1&sole=y&collab=y&attr=y&sort=default&tabview=worklist Waterhouse at Tate Britain]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20181026222630/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/collections/lgbt/sex-and-eroticism/beauty-and-desire/item-239090.aspx Echo and Narcissus (1903)]
[http://www.tendreams.org/waterhouse.htm Ten Dreams Galleries]
[http://www.all-art.org/neoclasscism/waterhouse1.html John William Waterhouse in the "History of Art"]
[http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=5958 Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections]
{{Art UK bio}}
{{NPG name}}
{{ODNB|id=38885|title=Waterhouse, John William (1849–1917)|first=Peter |last=Trippi}}
{{Who's Who|id=U204373|title=Waterhouse, John William}}
{{LCAuth|n79044158|John William Waterhouse|2|ue}}
[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8041010/john-william-waterhouse Findagrave burial record]