Wednesday, November 27, 2013

John William Waterhouse - Study




HEAD STUDY, PROBABLY FOR A TALE FROM THE DECAMERON
signed and dated l.r.: J W.Waterhouse/ 1915
charcoal
The head study appears to relate to the woman seated third from the left in John William Waterhouse's A Tale from the Decameron, 1916 (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool). One of Waterhouse's last paintings, it is based on Giovanni Boccaccio's literary masterpiece, The Decameron, written between 1348-53.

On the reverse of this drawing is a rough sketch of a sailing-boat on a calm sea at dawn, which may have been an alternative design for the background of Miranda - The Tempest of 1916 (private collection). 

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