JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE (1849-1917) Biography
PRE-RAPHAELITE (founded 1848) Biography

Description / Expertise

Waterhouse was one of the few artists to combine influences from the two main currents in the late nineteenth century British art: one derived from Pre-Raphaelitism, the other from French painting. His debt to Pre-Raphaelitism was one of subject matter and richness of colour rather than degree of finish. He was a painter of poetical subjects drawn from Keats, Tennyson, Shakespeare and classical mythology, but his bold painterly technique derived from French artists such as Bastien Lepage. Indeed his friendships were made among the French-influenced artists of the Newlyn School, such as Bramley and Logsdail, rather than the circles around Burne-Jones. The early years of his life, which were spent in Italy, and his return trips 1876-83, added a sense of cololur and the play of light, which was expressed in such paintings as The Flower Stall, (exhibited 1880). The juxtaposition of young and pretty girls with an abundance of flowers was a motif that he continued to use throughout his career, and used again in Camellias.

His parents were both minor artists. Waterhouse entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1870 and began to exhibit at the Society of British Artists in 1872, and the Royal Academy in 1874, making his debut as a painter of eastern and classical genre scenes and large reconstructions of incidents from ancient history. The culmination of this phase of his art was Mariamne, Wife of King Herod the Great, Going Forth to be Executed, (exhibited Royal Academy 1887; Forbes Collection, London and New York). The following year he initiated his poetic phase with the Lady of Shalott, which was bought by Henry Tate, and is today one of the most popular paintings in the Tate Gallery. Despite his preferred subject matter after this date, in which mermaids, nymphs and classical and literary themes concerning other female Academy. He did also exhibit a few works at the more “aesthetic” venues of the Grosvenor and New Galleries. He was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in 1885 and Royal Academician in 1895. Anthony Hobson's The Art and Life Of John William Waterhouse RA, 1849-1917 appeared in 1980 (Christie's and Studio Vista, London). The 1989 edition is now available.

Camellias demonstrates Waterhouse's painterly technique, and his deft touch in direct oil painting, as he suggests the shading behind his model's head and her bouquet. Her face is more finely worked, and attention is also given to her rich hair. Her profile, and the flower in her hair, may relate to a more finished work of 1909, Veronica. Such small paintings were often produced at the same time as his larger and more elaborate works. The female figures in his works as a whole conform to his single vision of beauty. As Anthony Hobson writes he continually sought his ideal vision of womanhood, rather than some character type adapted to each new subject. This model is typical of Waterhouse's women.