
John William Waterhouse Painting Reproductions Gallery 2 of 5
1849-1917English Victorian Romanticism Painter
John William Waterhouse (April 6, 1849 - February 10, 1917) was a British neo-classical and Pre-Raphaelite painter most famous for his paintings of female characters from mythology and literature.
Early life
He was born in Rome to the painters William and Isabela Waterhouse, but when he was five the family moved to South Kensington, near the newly founded Victoria and Albert Museum. He studied painting under his father before entering the Royal Academy schools in 1870. His early works were of classical themes in the spirit of Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton, and were exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists and the Dudley Gallery.
Later career
In 1874, at the age of twenty-five, Waterhouse submitted the classical allegory Sleep and His Half-Brother Death to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition. The painting was very well received and he exhibited at the RA almost every year afterwards until his death in 1917. In 1883 he married Esther Kenworthy, the daughter of an art schoolmaster from Ealing who had exhibited her own flower-paintings at the Royal Academy and elsewhere. They had two children, but both died in childhood.
In 1895 Waterhouse was elected to the status of full Academician. He taught at the St. John's Wood Art School, joined the St John's Wood Arts Club, and served on the Royal Academy Council.
Waterhouse's most famous painting is The Lady of Shalott, a study of a Elaine of Astolat, who dies of grief when Lancelot will not love her. He actually painted three different versions of this character, in 1888, 1896, and 1916.
His grave can be found at Kensal Green Cemetery in London.
99 Paintings of Waterhouse
Tate Gallery London United Kingdom
Saint Eulalia
$1370
$55.86
Private Collection
The Danaides
$1297
$52.65
Private Collection
Thisbe
$992
$52.59
Private Collection
Pandora
$974
$48.75
Private Collection
Saint Cecilia
$3137
$76.29
Private Collection
The Shrine
$929
$48.75
Private Collection
Ophelia
$992
$48.75
City Art Gallery Leeds United Kingdom
The Lady of Shalott
$974
$48.75
Private Collection
A Naiad
$1018
$48.75
Chi-Mei Museum Taiwan Taiwan
The Orange Gatherers
$1084
$61.97
Private Collection
Mariamne
$1494
$48.75
Art Gallery of New South Wales Sydney Australia
Diogenes
$1341
$58.25
Private Collection
The Remorse of Nero after the Murder of his Mother
$903
$48.75
Private Collection
After the Dance
$1240
$48.75
Private Collection
Sick Child Brought into the Temple of Aesculapius
$2041
$58.16
Private Collection
Two Little Italian Girls by a Village
$917
$48.75
Private Collection
Sleep and his Half Brother Death
$1271
$58.29
Private Collection
La Fileuse
$579
$48.75
Laing Art Gallery Newcastle-upon-Tyne United Kingdom
A Flower Stall (A Grecian Flower Market)
$1031
$53.46
Private Collection
The Crystal Ball
$1004
$48.75
Private Collection
The Necklace (Study)
$1084
Private Collection
Apollo and Daphne
$1031
$56.81
Private Collection
Flowers and Foliage
$609
$48.75
Private Collection
Jason and Medea
$1172
$59.10