This major retrospective of Pre-Raphaelite artist, John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) will feature over 40 paintings together with sketchbooks and drawings from public and private collections worldwide.

John William Waterhouse, A Mermaid, 1900. Oil on canvas, 96.5 x 66.6 cm. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photo © Royal Academy of Arts, London

The exhibition will consider how Waterhouse's paintings reflect his engagement with contemporary issues ranging from medievalism and the classical heritage to spiritualism and the New Woman. Born the year the Pre-Raphaelites declared their rebellion against the Royal Academy, Waterhouse also inherited their taste for Tennyson, Keats, and Shakespeare, and drew from classical myth as interpreted by Homer and Ovid.

During the 1890s, Waterhouse gravitated toward images of metamorphosis: lily-like nymphs seducing Hylas into their pool; Circe pouring the poison that will transform Scylla; Echo and Narcissus pining away; Lamia enchanting Lycius with her snake-scale shawl wrapped around her. Waterhouse’s career closed with a decisive return to emotive "Pre-Raphaelite" narratives such as The Lady of Shalott, Tristram and Isolde, and The Decameron.

Product Description

With his grand scale and richly colored canvases and studies, John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) was one of the most influential painters of the 19th century. In this brilliantly illustrated survey, edited by a leading Waterhouse scholar, the painter's seductive vision of femininity is captured in sumptuous reproductions and illuminated by an engaging and informative text.

Published to accompany an important exhibition of the artist's work, the book explores Waterhouse's creative responses to such contemporary concerns as medievalism, the classical tradition, and spiritualism. A comprehensive examination of his life and work, including his well-known painting The Lady of Shallott, this volume explores also the artist's connection to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and his engagement with French art of the period.