John William Godward, R.B.A. (1861-1922)

A dark haired classical Italian beauty wearing a crimson tunic with a blood orange stola sits upon a wooden chair draped with a leopard skin. Seen in profile to the right, she pensively sews in her garden while seated on a marble terrace with the Mediterranean in the background, and oleander to her left. The painting has affinity with another of the artist's oils from 1911, In Realms of Fancy. Godward painted twenty five known tondo oils and several more watercolours. While this number is not great compared to his total output, circular pictures best define the artist's consumate compositional abilities. The oil was one of the first the artist painted in Rome where he had moved during mid-year.

We are grateful to Professor Vern G. Swanson for providing this catalogue entry.