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

Provenance

The Artist's studio sale, Christie's 23 1926, lot 48
Sampson, bought at the above sale; his sale,
Christie's 4 April 1930, lot 177
Mr Jay, bought from the above

Literature

Alfred Lys Baldry, The Late J. W. Waterhouse RA, The Studio 1917, volume LXXI, plate opposite page10, illustrating a related study for this work.
Anthony Hobson, The Art and Life of J. W. Waterhouse, Studio Vista and Christie's 1980, page 196, catalogue number 310
Anthony Hobson, John William Waterhouse, Phaidon, Oxford 1989, pages 89 and 122 reproduced in a full page colour plate, plate 68, page 95
Elizabeth Prettejohn, Peter Trippi, Robert Upstone, Patty Wageman, J. W. Waterhouse 1849 - 1917 The Modern Pre-Raphaelite, Catalogue of the travelling exhibition at Groninger Museum 14 December 2008 - 3 May 2009, Royal Academy, London 27 June - 13 September 2009 and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1 October 2009 - 7 February 2010, number 54, illustrated page 175

Exhibition History

London, Royal Academy, 1922, Winter Exhibition, Works by Recently Deceased Members of the Royal Academy, number 225, lent by the artist's widow.
J. W. Waterhouse 1849 - 1917 The Modern Pre-Raphaelite, Groninger Museum 14 December 2008 - 3 May 2009, Royal Academy, London 27 June - 13 September 2009, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1 October 2009 - 7 February 2010, Number 54

Description / Expertise

The image of Vanity, a beautiful woman admiring herself in a mirror, is found in European Art from the time of the middle ages. It is an ambiguous image because the spectator is invited both to admire and to disapprove. In this haunting picture, John William Waterhouse surely intends admiration to be paramount. The picture reinterprets such paintings as Titians The Toilet (Louvre) and Rossetti's Lady Lilith (Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington) with a new sense of immediacy. On looking at it, the first impression is not of its place in an artistic tradition, but the spontaneity and naturalness of the woman's gesture.