A recent discovery, listed without location in Dr Hobson's 1980 catalogue (loc.cit.), this picture was painted when Waterhouse was still a student at the Royal Academy Schools. Although already interested in classical themes, he had not yet come under the influence of Alma-Tadema, so marked in pictures like The Household Gods of 1880, sold in these Rooms on 4 November 1994, lot 100, or Diogenes (Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney), which dates from 1882. In fact the picture can best be described as an essay in early Aestheticism, and it is significant that it was exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, Piccadilly, which did so much to advance 'aesthetic' values in the 1860s and early 1870s, anticipating the Grosvenor Gallery, the ultimate temple of Aestheticism, by more than a decade. For another picture exhibited at the Dudley and reflecting its prevailing ethos, see lot 67.

We are grateful to Dr Anthony Hobson for his help in preparing this entry.