1900년대의 워터하우스 그림들

 

 

 

 

Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may

painting date: 1909
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 100 x 83 cm (39.5 x 32.5 in)
location: Private Collection

 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
Old time is still a-flying;
And the same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
(Robert Herrick)

Courtesy of the Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto.

Celebrating the splendour of youth and the joys of spring, this important rediscovery was made by Odon Wagner. The work has never been exhibited in public and was reproduced only once during the artist's lifetime. The painting is signed and dated 1909 and has been established as the first picture in the Symbolist 'Persephone' series that engrossed Waterhouse from 1909 to 1914.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lamia

painting date: 1909
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 36 x 22.5 in
location: Private Collection

In classical mythology, Lamia was a female daemon who devoured children. According to late myths she was a queen of Libya who was beloved by Zeus. When Hera robbed her of her children from this union, Lamia killed every child she could get into her power. She was also known as a fiend who, in the form of a beautiful woman, seduced young men in order to devour them.

It was this latter incarnation of Lamia as a beautiful woman that inspired John Keats to write his poem Lamia, published in 1820. Waterhouse bases his portrayal of Lamia upon Keats' poem.

She was a gordian shape of dazzling hue,
Vermilion-spotted, golden, green, and blue;
Striped like a zebra, freckled like a pard,
Eyed like a peacock, and all crimson barr'd; 
And full of silver moons, that, as she breathed,
Dissolv'd, or brighter shone, or interwreathed
Their lustres with the gloomier tapestries--
So rainbow-sided, touch'd with miseries,
She seem'd, at once, some penanced lady elf,
Some demon's mistress, or the demon's self.

Source: Encyclop?dia Britannica

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs A. P. Henderson

painting date: 1909
medium: Oil on canvas
location: Private Collection

 

 

 

 

 

Veronica

painting date: 1909
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 55 x 45 cm (22 x 18 in)
location: Private Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nymphs finding the Head of Orpheus (Study)

painting date: circa 1900
medium: Oil on canvas
location: Private Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring (The Flower Picker)

painting date: circa 1900
medium: Watercolour
size: 46.2 x 29.2 cm
location: Private Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Awakening of Adonis

painting date: circa 1900
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 95.9 x 188 cm
location: Private Collection

In Greek mythology, Adonis was a youth of remarkable beauty, the favourite of the goddess Aphrodite. Traditionally, he was the product of the incestuous love Smyrna (Myrrha) entertained for her own father, the Syrian king Theias. Charmed by his beauty, Aphrodite put the newborn infant Adonis in a box and handed him over to the care of Persephone, the queen of the underworld, who afterward refused to give him up. An appeal was made to Zeus, the king of the gods, who decided that Adonis should spend a third of the year with Persephone and a third with Aphrodite, the remaining third being at his own disposal. Adonis became an enthusiastic hunter, and was killed by a wild boar during the chase. Aphrodite pleaded for his life with Zeus, who allowed Adonis to spend half of each year with her and half in the underworld.

The central idea of the myth is that of the death and resurrection of Adonis, which represent the decay of nature every winter and its revival in spring. He is thus viewed by modern scholars as having originated as an ancient spirit of vegetation. Annual festivals called Adonia were held at Byblos and elsewhere to commemorate Adonis for the purpose of promoting the growth of vegetation and the falling of rain. The name Adonis is believed to be of Phoenician origin (from 'adon, "lord"), Adonis himself being identified with the Babylonian god Tammuz.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Siren

painting date: circa 1900
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 81 x 53 cm
location: Private Collection

 

Waterhouse paints a Siren gazing regretfully at the drowning sailor she has drawn to his doom through her beautiful music.

'The sea-nymphs chant their accents shrill;
And the Sirens, taught to kill
With their sweet voice,
Make every echoing rock reply,
Unto their gentle murmuring noise'.
Thomas Campion (1567-1620), 'In Praise of Neptune'

A siren in Greek mythology was a creature half bird and half woman who lured sailors to destruction by the sweetness of her song. According to Homer there were two Sirens on an island in the western sea between Aeaea and the rocks of Scylla. Later the number was usually increased to three, and they were located on the west coast of Italy, near Naples. They were variously said to be the daughters of the sea god Phorcys or of the river god Achelous.

The Greek hero Odysseus (English: Ulysses), advised by the sorceress Circe, escaped the danger of their song by stopping the ears of his crew with wax so that they were deaf to the Sirens; yet he was able to hear the music and had himself tied to the mast so that he could not steer the ship out of course. Another story relates that when the Argonauts sailed that way, Orpheus sang so divinely that none of them listened to the Sirens. In later legend, after one or other of these failures the Sirens committed suicide. In art they appeared first as birds with the heads of women, later as women, sometimes winged, with bird legs.

The Sirens seem to have evolved from a primitive tale of the perils of early exploration combined with an Oriental image of a bird-woman. Anthropologists explain the Oriental image as a soul-bird--i.e., a winged ghost that stole the living to share its fate. In that respect the Sirens had affinities with the Harpies.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

 

 

 

 

 

Study for the head of Echo

painting date: circa 1903
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 40.7 x 33 cm
location: Private Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason and Medea (Study)

painting date: circa 1907
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 36 x 24 in
location: Private Collection

 

This painting is owned by the actor Jack Nicholson.

 

 

 

 

 

Gather Ye Rosebuds (Study)

painting date: circa 1908
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 79 x 57 cm

Also known as 'Ophelia'.

 

 

 

 

 

The Bouquet

painting date: circa 1908
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 57 x 39.5 cm
location: Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth, Cornwall, England

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Necklace

painting date: circa 1909
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 95.2 x 64.7 cm
location: Private Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woman Picking Flowers

painting date: circa 1909-14
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 32 1/4 x 21 1/2 in (82 x 54.6 cm)
location: Private Collection

Also known as 'A Nude Girl in a Landscape'.

 

 

 

 

 

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