John William Godward (9 August 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an English painter from the end of the Pre-Raphaelite / Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema but his style of painting fell out of favour with the arrival of painters like Picasso. He committed suicide at the age of 61 and is said to have written in his suicide note that "the world was not big enough" for him and a Picasso.

His already estranged family, who had disapproved of him becoming an artist, were ashamed of his suicide and burned his papers. No photographs of Godward are known to survive.

Early life

Godward was born in 1861 and lived in Wilton Grove, Wimbledon.

Career

Dolce far Niente (1904)

He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1887. When he moved to Italy with one of his models in 1912, his family broke off all contact with him and even cut his image from family pictures. Godward returned to England in 1919, died in 1922 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, west London.

One of his best known paintings is Dolce far Niente (1904), which currently resides in the collection of Andrew Lloyd Webber. As in the case of several other paintings, Godward painted more than one version, in this case an earlier (and less well known) 1897 version.

Works

Godward was a Victorian Neo-classicist, and therefore a follower in theory of Frederic Leighton. However, he is more closely allied stylistically to Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, with whom he shared a penchant for the rendering of Classical architecture, in particular, static landscape features constructed from marble.

"In the Tepidarium", 1913

The vast majority of Godward's extant images feature women in Classical dress, posed against these landscape features, though there are some semi-nude and fully nude figures included in his oeuvre (a notable example being In The Tepidarium (1913), a title shared with a controversial Alma-Tadema painting of the same subject that resides in the Lady Lever Art Gallery). The titles reflect Godward's source of inspiration: Classical civilisation, most notably that of Ancient Rome (again a subject binding Godward closely to Alma-Tadema artistically), though Ancient Greece sometimes features, thus providing artistic ties, albeit of a more limited extent, with Leighton.

Given that Classical scholarship was more widespread among the potential audience for his paintings during his lifetime than in the present day, meticulous research of detail was important in order to attain a standing as an artist in this genre. Alma-Tadema was, as well as a painter, an archaeologist who attended historical sites and collected artifacts that were later used in his paintings: Godward, too, studied such details as architecture and dress, in order to ensure that his works bore the stamp of authenticity. In addition, Godward painstakingly and meticulously rendered those other important features in his paintings, animal skins (the paintings Noon Day Rest (1910) and A Cool Retreat (1910) contain superb examples of such rendition) and wild flowers (Nerissa (1906), illustrated above, and Summer Flowers (1903) are again excellent examples of this).

The appearance of beautiful women in studied poses in so many of Godward's canvases causes many newcomers to his works to categorise him mistakenly as being Pre-Raphaelite, particularly as his palette is often a vibrantly colourful one. However, the choice of subject matter (ancient civilisation versus, for example, Arthurian legend) is more properly that of the Victorian Neoclassicist: however, it is appropriate to comment that in common with numerous painters contemporary with him, Godward was a 'High Victorian Dreamer', producing beautiful images of a world which, it must be said, was idealised and romanticised, and which in the case of both Godward and Alma-Tadema came to be criticised as a world-view of 'Victorians in togas'.

List of works by the artist

Nerissa (1906) John William Godward

1889

• Grecian Reverie
• His Birthday Gift
• Ianthe
• Waiting For An Answer

1890

• A Pompeian Bath
• Athenais
• Flowers Of Venus

1891

• A Pompeian Lady
• Innocent Amusement
• The Sweet Siesta of a Summer Day

1892

• At The Garden Shrine, Pompeii
• Classical Beauty
• Far Away Thoughts (landscape format)
• Far Away Thoughts (portrait format)
• Leaning On The Balcony
• The Betrothed
• The Playground
• With Violets Wreathed And Robe Of Saffron Hue

1893

• A Priestess (nude)
• Reflections
• Yes Or No

1894

• A Priestess

1895

• Mischief And Repose
• The Muse Erato At Her Lyre
• Tigerskin (date uncertain)

1896

• Campaspe (nude)
• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

1897

• Dolce Far Niente (first version)
• Venus Binding Her Hair, by 1897 (nude)

1898

• At The Gate Of The Temple
• Idle thoughts
• On The Balcony (first version)
• The Ring

1899

• The Bouquet
• The Delphic Oracle
• The Mirror
• The Signal

1900

• Idleness
• The Jewel Casket
• The Toilet

1901

• At The Garden Door
• Chloris
• Girl In Yellow Drapery
• Idle Hours
• Sweet Dreams
• The Favourite
• The Seamstress
• Venus At The Bath (nude)
• Youth And Time

1902

• An Italian Girl's Head
• Ionian Dancing Girl

1903

• Amaryllis
• Summer Flowers
• The Old, Old Story
• The Rendezvous

1904

• A Melody
• Dolce Far Niente (second version)
• In The Days Of Sappho

1905

• A Greek Beauty
• A Roman Matron
• Flabellifera
• Mischief

1906

• Drusilla
• Nerissa
• The Tambourine Girl (first version - girl facing the viewer)
• The Tambourine Girl (second version - girl reclining against wall)

1907

• The Love Letter

1908

• A Classical Lady
• A Grecian Girl
• Ismenia

1909

• A Classical Beauty
• A Grecian Lovely (date uncertain)
• At The Thermae (semi nude)
• Tympanistria

1910

• A Cool Retreat
• Noon Day Rest
• Reverie (first version)
• Sappho

1911

• In Realms Of Fancy
• On The Balcony (second version)

1912

• A Tryst
• Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
• An Offering To Venus
• By The Wayside
• Reverie (second version)
• Sabinella
• The Peacock Fan

1913

• Golden Hours
• In The Tepidarium (nude)
• La Pensierosa
• Le Billet Doux
• The Belvedere

1914

• The Necklace
• The New Perfume
• Tranquility

1915

• In The Prime Of The Summer Time

1916

• Ancient Pastimes
• By The Blue Ionian Sea
• Lesbia With Her Sparrow

1917

• A Lily Pond
• The Fruit Vendor
• Under The Blossom That Hangs On The Bough

1918

• A Fond farewell
• Sweet Sounds

1920

• A Red, Red Rose

1921

• Megilla

1922

• Contemplation
• Nu Sur La Plage (an exception to all other works, this is a 'modern' nude)

Date unknown

• Grape Vines
• Ophelia
• Time To Play

This list is not a complete list, but serves to illustrate the extent of Godward's output.

Gallery

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  "A Priestess", 1894

   

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  "Idle Thoughts", 1898

   

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  "The Mirror", 1899

   

   

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  "Idleness", 1900

   

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  "Summer Flowers", 1903