JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE, R.A. (BRITISH, 1848-1917)

This is a preliminary idea for an illustration to Keats's Lamia (Royal Academy, 1909), the tale of a nymph trapped in the body of a serpent. Hermes sets her free, and revives her human form. The picture is a reprise of others by Waterhouse in which a beautiful nymph is seated at the edge of a pool. The series began with Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus in which two figures are seated beside a pool. This was shown at the Royal Academy in 1901. In Psyche, shown at the Royal Academy in 1903, we see the nymph seated on a rocky outcrop, opening the casket seen in the present picture. Later in 1911, Waterhouse returned to the theme, painting The Charmer, in which the figure seen in the present picture appears in reverse, playing a harp which attracts the attention of fish.

All of the figures wear loose classical drapery, and bear enigmatic expressions. While the wooded landscape and much of the silhouette in the present picture is loosely touched in, the sitter’s face is well resolved. She is a characteristic `Waterhouse’ beauty, possibly based on a likeness of his favourite model at the time, Muriel Foster. The unfinished work clearly demonstrates how the artist built up his compositions, boldly sketching outlines, but nevertheless indulging in several changes of mind and flights of the imagination. The picture remained in his studio until his death, tantalising subsequent viewers about how the picture might have evolved.