Running head: THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE1

The Life and Styling of John William Waterhouse

Victoria LaJuan Bowen
Salem College

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

The Life and Styling of John William Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse was a Romantic era painter and draftsmen. He was born in
Rome on April 6, 1849. His father resided there as a painter (Johnwilliamwaterhouse.net, 2015).
He is also remembered as an artist following the Pre-Raphelite movement.
Romanticism
Romanticism was a movement that focused a lot on imagination and emotions. As
defined by the Galitz (2015),
Romanticism, first defined as an aesthetic in literacy criticism around 1800, gained
momentum as an artistic movement in France and Britain in the early decades of the
nineteenth century and flourished until mid-century. With its emphasis on the imagination
and emotion, Romanticism emerged as a response to the disillusionment with the
Enlightenment values of reason and order in the aftermath of the French Revolution of
1789.(para.1)
Waterhouses paintings hold a lot of Romantic characteristics. One of which is the basis
for a lot of his paintings. His paintings subjects consist of characters from literary masterpieces
such as The Odyssey, as well as, a variety of poems and ballads. His paintings refer to the
observers imagination of what characters from these writings would look like. They also, show
a great emphasis on nature, and all of its beauty. That is another quality of Romantic art also
defined by Galitz (2015): In Romantic art, naturewith its uncontrollable power,
unpredictability, and potential for cataclysmic extremesoffered an alternative to the ordered
world of Enlightenment thought (para.2 ). It was a type of perspective exalted in an almost
spiritual way. Waterhouses style, however, was completely his own whereas others followed in
the techniques of the Old Masters of the Renaissance age.

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

Early Life
Waterhouse did not develop his own style strictly through painting though his parents did.
His style starts all the way back to his childhood. William Waterhouse, John William
Waterhouses father, was a portrait and genre painter. He spent his life traveling back and forth
between England and Rome. While he was in Rome in April 6, 1849, his wife Isabella
Mackenzie gave birth to John William Waterhouse. It could be said that Waterhouse was
destined to be a painter. His father was a painter, and his mother painted alongside her sisters
for the Royal Academy as a portrait and genre painter, and was a copyist of the Old Masters.
Along with his brothers (Edwin and Charles) and one sister (Jessie), he spent his earliest
years in Rome. Growing up in a family filled with so much artistic influence made art come as
naturally as breathing. The family was very close, and did lots of traveling together. According to
Noakes (2005), the family started calling him by his nickname Nino, and then it spread to
everyone Waterhouse came to know. The family did a lot of traveling across Rome during his
earliest childhood, and eventually the family moved to England.
Moving to England, the family sadly suffered through a tragedy. Waterhouses mother
died not long after they came to England. The family was able to recover from this. The father
remarried a Frederica Mary Jane Percival in 1860. This was followed in 1870 with his
enrollment into the Royal Academy Schools as a probationer. Waterhouse worked with his father
in his studio before being enrolled, and was excelling in his art. According to Noakes (2005),
Moreover, he had been working in his fathers studio as an assistant for two years before
he enrolled, curiously enough, not as a painter but as a student of sculpture, and this at a
time when a seven-year course of instruction was felt to be necessary before one was
reckoned to have acquired sufficient skill to begin practice. (p. 14)

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

Being an assistant to his father, as well as, being in school took up a lot of his time, but he still
made time to practice. He was very shy though, so he did not practice in public. He would go to
different galleries, especially the National Gallery, and pay close attention to the detail to some
of the Old Masters paintings. After he felt like he had a decent image in his head of those details,
he would then go home and begin to draw them out. This method of practicing may have helped
him develop his characteristic style that went outside the norms of painters like his parents.
After some time of practicing this way on his own, he decided to try and paint. He
inquired two student friends, any photograph, and any other reference he could find at hand. He
then painted three small paintings, and showed them to his father. Noakes (2005) describes his
fathers goal for his son after seeing his paintings:
When quite finished, varnished even, they were shown to his father, whose wish, till
considerably later than this date, was to bring his sons work into conformity with early
Victorian patterns of beauty by enlarging the eyes and otherwise idealizing. (p.15)
Waterhouse did not change anything on his paintings, even after his fathers criticism. He even
chose to display his paintings in Suffolk Street, which led to all three paintings being bought.
Major Works and Moments
Those three paintings Waterhouse did were only the beginning. According to Kerr (2000),
Waterhouses earlier works were inspired by classical themes by artists Sir Lawrence AlmaTadema and Frederick Leighton. The first and most profitable of his first paintings was titled
The Unwelcome Companion and was shown in the Society of British Artists gallery in 1872,
until in 1873 when it was sold for 42. This amount of money was impressive for an artist in that
time. The painting itself was part of a series, and was also very large. It was oil on canvas, with
an amazing amount of detail.

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

After that, he did several more paintings for the society. All of which were sold in Suffolk
Street where he sold his first three paintings. He soon broke away from selling just in Suffolk
Street though and this led to a breakthrough in his art. Noakes (2005) describes this
breakthrough:
Thus, even before his first painting, Sleep and his half-brother, Death (1874), was shown
at the Royal Academy, Waterhouse had evolved a successful style of his own, and from
that year onwards his work can be traced in the Royal Academys catalogues, with less
frequent appearances at the Grosvenor Gallery and the New Gallery, and an occasional
submission at the Royal Institute. (p. 16)
From his submission to the Royal Academy in 1874, Waterhouse showed an artist with a very
well developed and unique style of his own that sold paintings to the higher class. Later in the
same year he exhibited a painting originally called, In The Perisyle at the Dudley Gallery. This
painting is significant in that it was renamed in 1908 when it was presented to Rochdale Art
Gallery, and called, Feeding the Pigeons.
Just from the works listed here, and the galleries that accepted and sold them, one can tell
that Waterhouses skill was very high. He did not go through any doubt, or slight worry of mind
with the possible thoughts of having no talent. All of his paintings he submitted were accepted,
and then soon after sold. Starting somewhere in 1876 to around 1883 after several successful
gallery submissions, Waterhouse began to travel throughout Italy. He traveled to study, and to
better his style. As stated by Noakes (2005), Freed from the constraints of studio-bound,
commissions, he revelled in experiments in colour and the play of light, posing his models outof-doors in natural settings (p. 44).

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

While traveling, however, not only made for great strides in an already great artists style,
but it led him to meeting someone very important. It also led him to find the first place he would
settle down. Noakes (2005) tells that
On 8 September 1883 he married Esther Kenworthy and from that time forward his Royal
Academy submissions were sent in from two addresses only: Primrose Hill Studios,
between 1883 and 1900; and from 1901 onwards from 10 Hall Road, St. Johns Wood
until his death in 1917. (p. 23)
His wife was a painter as well. She submitted to the Royal Academy, with simple things such as
flowers. The year after his marriage began a line of some of his most famous paintings to date.
While traveling in Italy, he did mostly genre paintings, but they were to soon change and take on
the Pre-Raphaelites vision.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, was a group of artists at the Royal Academy who
wanted to bring about a different style of art, so they did an exhibition. Waterhouse saw this
exhibition, and from this, began making some of his most popular works. Consulting the
Oracle was one of the first of many of his Pre-Raphaelite inspired paintings. This painting
brought Waterhouse many great reviews. The paintings to follow would as well. For example,
Kerr (2000) states that
In 1884, his Royal Academy submission Consulting the Oracle brought him favourable
reviews; it was purchased by Sir Henry Tate, who also purchased The Lady of Shalott
from the 1888 Academy exhibition. The latter painting reveals Waterhouses growing
interest in themes associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, particularly tragic or powerful
femmes fatales, as well as plein-air painting. (para.4)

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

Waterhouse used stories, as well as, plays, poems, and some songs as his muse for some of his
paintings. The Lady of Shalott is a prime example of this as its origin is from a poem. His
depiction of her though, is what is so remarkable. Other examples of his works would be
paintings like Circe Invidosa, or perhaps even The Magic Circle.
Something else that cannot be forgotten as a milestone in Waterhouses life would be his
induction into the Royal Academy. This is explained by Kerr (2000):
In 1885 Waterhouse was elected an associate of the Royal Academy and a full member in
1895. His RA diploma work was A Mermaid. However, as this painting was not
completed until 1900, Waterhouse offered his Ophelia of 1888 as his temporary
submission (this painting was lost for most of the 20th centuryit is now in the
collection of Lord Lloyd Webber). (para.4 )
Later Years
At the beginning of 1900, Waterhouse and his wife moved in to St. John Woods where he
stayed until his death. This place was renowned for homing artists as such as Waterhouse and his
wife. They had a studio, and Waterhouse produced many more paintings from here. He never
slowed down, even at near death. One reason Waterhouse may have chose to reside in St. John
Woods could be for whom one of his neighbors was. It was one of his inspirations as a younger
artist, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Alma-Tadema remained a strong influence to Waterhouse,
which could explain their move to St. John Woods.
At this point in Waterhouses life, he was thought of as a success by many, and rightly so.
Noakes (2005) describes what most of Waterhouses paintings consisted of in his later years:
A quick appraisal of the paintings sent in to the Royal Academy, from St. Johns Wood
between 1901 and 1917 shows that they can be roughly divided up into three main

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

groups: portraits, of various members of the Henderson family, other friends, and patrons.
(p72.)
He did not like the sudden interest in portraits; however, he did them anyways. At this point and
onward in his life he began to let go of some of his mythological painting styles, and gravitate
towards themes from poetry. One major source of his poem muses was the very famous Greek
poem, The Odyssey. He has painted a lot of paintings from this poem, but also a lot from
Greek and Roman mythology. Noakes (2005) gives a few examples of some of the paintings he
did: A Mermaid and Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus (1901); Echo and Narcissus
and Psyche Opening the Golden Box (1903); Psyche Entering Cupids Garden and Boreas
(1904); The Danaides (1906); Phyllis and Demophon and Jason and Medea (1907);
Apollo and Daphne (1908); Penelope and her Suitors (1912); an Narcissus (1913).Of
course not all of his works consisted of Greek or Roman mythology, but over half did. Some of
his pieces from this time are done in different context. For example, he has three different
Ophelias, all of which include her as the main subject just doing different things in the
paintings. All of which are very well known. His The Lady of Shalott is like this as well.
According to Noakes (2005), his most renowned piece is Hylas and the Nymphs.
He worked until the day he died on February 10, 1917 due to cancer. His last submissions
were to the Royal Academy. They were Fair Rosamund, Tristan and Isolde,; Miranda, and
an unfinished piece, The Enchanted Garden (Noakes, 2005, p. 80). His wife outlived him for
27 years and died in 1944. He was known as an icon during the Romantic period of art, as well
as among the Pre-Raphaelites. Some of his pieces have been lost, but many have surfaced and
have been rightfully placed in galleries. This way his works will live on forever in books,
museums, and galleries all over the world.

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

THE LIFE AND STYLING OF JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

References
Artble. (2015). John William Waterhouse. Retrieved from
http://www.artble.com/artists/john_william_waterhouse
Art Renewal Center. (2015). John William Waterhouse: English painter and draftsman.
Retrieved from http://www.artrenewal.org/
Coenn, D. (2013). John William Waterhouse: Drawings. Location: Lulu Enterprises, Inc.
Gunzburg, D. (2010). Interview: John William Waterhouse, beyond the modern PreRaphaelite. The Art Book, 17(2), 70-72.
Galitz, C, K. (2015). Romanticism. Retrieved from:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/hd_roma.htm
Hobson, A. (1994). J.W. Waterhouse. London: Phaidon.
Johnwilliamwaterhouse.net. (2015). John William Waterhouse: The complete works. Retrieved
from http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.net/
JWWaterhouse.com. (2015). of myth, romance, love, and elegiac beauty. Retrieved from
http://jwwaterhouse.com/index.cfm#about
Kannings, A. (2013). John William Waterhouse: 176 Masterpieces. Location: Lulu Enterprises,
Inc.
Kerr, J. (2000). The art and life of John William Waterhouse. Retrieved from
http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com/home/
Noakes, A. (2005). Waterhouse. London: Chaucer Press.
Tate. (2015). John William Waterhouse. Retrieved from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/johnwilliam-waterhouse-583
Trippi, P. (2002). J.W. Waterhouse. London: Phaidon.