Description:

JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE
BRITISH, 1849-1917
ARRANGING FLOWERS, c.1890-91
Oil on canvas
Lower right signed: J.W. Waterhouse; verso stenciled on canvas: LAW / 91 PARK ST / CAMDEN TOWN N.W.; verso gallery label: M. Newman, Ltd, London; verso on stretcher Galerias Iturbide ink stamps;

Catalogue note:
There is good reason to celebrate the rediscovery of the present painting, which has passed through various private collections since it was created by John William Waterhouse in the early 1890s. It bears all the hallmarks of Waterhouse's aesthetic vision at that moment, after his success at the Royal Academy with the large, iconic Pre-Raphaelite scene of "The Lady of Shalott" (1888, Tate London) and before he pivoted in 1891 toward equally large and widely noted treatments of such classical myths as "Ulysses and the Sirens" (1891, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne).

During this period, Waterhouse produced an informal series of smaller, less time-consuming non-narrative paintings that he often sent to Agnew's, the influential firm which operated galleries in London, Manchester, and Liverpool, selling directly to wealthy clients who sought such decorative genre scenes. This work reflects what they admired in Waterhouse: a quintessentially English girl with rosy cheeks and her luxuriant hair pulled back is arranging the flowers adorning an outdoor shrine that is centered on one of the "household gods" the ancient Romans worshipped. Waterhouse's flair for depicting flowers and antique props is evident here. The same metal flower basket appears in his "Dolce Far Niente" (1880, Kirkcaldy Museum & Art Gallery) and similar sculpture are in "The Household Gods" (1880, private collection).

Just as characteristic are his deft juxtaposition of delicate yellow and pink tones with verdant foliage, his impeccable drawing of the feet and architecture, and the writhing verticality of the stalky trees in the background. We should also be reassured by the presence of some craquelure just above the girl's head, a reminder that Waterhouse regularly neglected to let his paints dry before he applied the next layer. Equally encouraging is the stamp on the reverse of the canvas, which reads "LAW / 91 Park St / Camden Town NW1." This was the art supply shop run by Mrs. Mary Ann Law from 1879 to 1890, an easy walk from Waterhouse's studio in Primrose Hill in north London.

During the 1880s, Capri became increasingly popular with artists from around the world for its natural beauty and attractive models. Waterhouse began visiting the Italian island regularly by 1888, and it is clear that many of his decorative scenes from the late 80s and early 90s were made there, possibly including this one. Although Capri won praise for the brown complexions and blue-black hair of its women, Waterhouse instead used distinctively English faces, as did his fellow Academician Luke Fildes.

Fildes himself owned one of Waterhouse's Capri pictures, "Flora" (private collection), which shows the same girl seated before a very similar shrine. (In 1891 Waterhouse exhibited that picture at the Academy rather than Agnew's, possibly because of its larger size.) The critic Claude Phillips admired "Flora" for having "much of the technical charm of an Alma-Tadema, yet with a greater vitality." That last word points to Waterhouse's bright tones, capacity to convey fresh air, and use of the modified square-brush effect that progressive Britons were then borrowing from modern French art. Indeed, Waterhouse's girls usually seem healthier and more convincingly flower-like for being fully out of doors and rendered in this looser, less academic manner. When it was offered at Sotheby's New York on 20 April 2005 (lot 96), "Flora" appeared in an ornately carved frame exactly the same as the one that houses the present painting.

Even more relevant to this painting is its smaller cousin, "A Roman Offering," sold at Christie's New York on 14 June 2023 (lot 16) from the collection of Ann and Gordon Getty. That work shows the same girl in the same pose, but there her metal basket rests on the ground rather than on a stool, and a few more tree trunks are visible in the garden beyond her. Because Waterhouse produced such decorative scenes for swift sale through the commercial market, it is not surprising that they resemble each other: they were intended to grace different private collections, not to be seen together and compared.

It was Waterhouse's first modern biographer, Anthony Hobson, who assigned this painting the title "Arranging Flowers" and illustrated it as such in his groundbreaking 1980 monograph. It is likely he had access to the archival records of the long-established London firm Gooden & Fox, which handled this picture, as well as "Flora" mentioned above. In his book, Hobson asserted that this picture had moved on to Mexico in 1952, and indeed on its reverse we find two stamps (rather than one) from the once-famous Mexico City firm Galerias Iturbide S.A. It is not clear how or when the painting moved from Mexico to the U.S. collection from which it is now being offered, but it is worth remembering that historical figurative works like this were seldom mentioned in the art press during the mid-20th century, when Waterhouse and his contemporaries were completely out of favor. The survival of this painting in such good condition is both a surprise and a joy for everyone who admires Waterhouse's artistry.

We are grateful to Peter Trippi for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.

    Provenance:

  • Gooden and Fox, London, 12 January 1948; purchased from the above M. Newman Ltd., London; 1952 to Mexico Galerias Iturbide S.A. (Objetos de Arte), Mexico City;
    Private U.S. collection since circa 1970.
  • Dimensions:
  • 27 x 10 in. (68.6 x 25.4 cm.), Frame: 32 x 15 in. (81.3 x 38.1 cm.)
  • Artist Name:
  • JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE
  • Literature:

  • Anthony Hobson, The Art and Life of J.W. Waterhouse R.A. 1849-1917, London 1980, p. 52 illus. plate 39 as "Arranging Flowers c. 1890" and cited in the checklist p. 184 as no. 81; Peter Trippi, J. W. Waterhouse, London, 2002, p. 99
  • Medium:
  • Oil on canvas
  • Condition:
  • This work is in good condition.
    The vanish has blanched.
    There is minimal inpaint, filling in some fine crazing, visible under uv black light.


    For a detailed condition report please request more information.

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