#waterhouse beauties

Lady Violet Henderson (1907), by J.W. Waterhouse 

Waterhouse was not a keen portraitist, but the market for his pre-Raphaelite paintings was shrinking and towards the end of his life the Henderson family was commissioning many works so he could hardly reject their requests.  Pictured is Lady Violet, a noble lady and the wife of H.G. Henderson.

The expression on the face of the woman (Trippi calls it “the vacant eyes”), the flushed cheeks on an otherwise white skin and the roses in her hand and in the background make her very much a Waterhouse beauty as he has pictured in so many of his paintings.

Psyche Opening the Golden Box (1903), by J.W. Waterhouse 

Psyche, the Greek goddess of the soul, was given four impossible tasks by Venus.  Three of them she succeeded in accomplishing, but the last one was not to open a golden box that she was given.  The box was supposed to contain beauty in its purest form.  This seemed by far the easiest task, but of course her curiosity wins and after she had opened the box she falls in a deep sleep, only to be rescued by Cupid.

During the early years of the twentieth century, Waterhouse had trouble selling his paintings.  He had to lower his prices to £300-400 each.  This one was sold to Ernest Moon, the barrister who also bought “The Lady Clare”.