Lot Essay
The subject is taken from Act 1 of The Tempest. Miranda is seen watching in alarm as the ship bearing her father's enemies appears to sink in the storm which he has conjured up to bring them to his remote island.
O! I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer: A brave vessel,
(Who had no doubt some noble creature in her!)
Dashed all to pieces ....
The picture was one of three shown by Waterhouse at the Royal Academy in 1916, the last time he exhibited there during his lifetime, although four works were shown in 1917 following his death in February that year. As Anthony Hobson observes, it was Waterhouse's practice to send three subject pictures to the R.A., one a group, the others single figures. Miranda was one of the single figures of 1916, the other being 'I am half sick of Shadows', illustrating Tennyson's Lady of Shalott (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto), while the group composition was A Tale from the Decameron (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight). Waterhouse had painted the subject of Miranda as early as 1875, when even his early 'Alma-Tadema' manner had not yet evolved (see Hobson, 1980, p.29, fig.18). Like many artists (Burne-Jones is another good example), he returned to early subjects at the end of his career, and our picture is part of this process. However, unlike the early picture, which shows the girl sitting pensively on the shore, looking out to sea where a ship can be seen calmly sailing on the horizon, the later work, with its listing ship, thundering waves and murderous looking rocks, is intensly dramatic. Much of this visual vocabulary had been invented by Waterhouse for two pictures completed about 1900, A Mermaid, his R.A. Diploma work, and The Siren (Hobson, 1989, pl.55-6). He returned yet again to the subject of Miranda in a picture exhibited at the R.A. in 1917 (no.475). About half the size of the present work, it was last recorded when sold at Christie's on 4 April 1930 (lot 178).
Miranda - The Tempest received little attention when exhibited, partly because such subjects had long gone out of fashion, partly because the war curtailed press comment anyway. Hobson's modern assessment is that the picture is 'one of the best' of the artist's late works.
O! I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer: A brave vessel,
(Who had no doubt some noble creature in her!)
Dashed all to pieces ....
The picture was one of three shown by Waterhouse at the Royal Academy in 1916, the last time he exhibited there during his lifetime, although four works were shown in 1917 following his death in February that year. As Anthony Hobson observes, it was Waterhouse's practice to send three subject pictures to the R.A., one a group, the others single figures. Miranda was one of the single figures of 1916, the other being 'I am half sick of Shadows', illustrating Tennyson's Lady of Shalott (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto), while the group composition was A Tale from the Decameron (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight). Waterhouse had painted the subject of Miranda as early as 1875, when even his early 'Alma-Tadema' manner had not yet evolved (see Hobson, 1980, p.29, fig.18). Like many artists (Burne-Jones is another good example), he returned to early subjects at the end of his career, and our picture is part of this process. However, unlike the early picture, which shows the girl sitting pensively on the shore, looking out to sea where a ship can be seen calmly sailing on the horizon, the later work, with its listing ship, thundering waves and murderous looking rocks, is intensly dramatic. Much of this visual vocabulary had been invented by Waterhouse for two pictures completed about 1900, A Mermaid, his R.A. Diploma work, and The Siren (Hobson, 1989, pl.55-6). He returned yet again to the subject of Miranda in a picture exhibited at the R.A. in 1917 (no.475). About half the size of the present work, it was last recorded when sold at Christie's on 4 April 1930 (lot 178).
Miranda - The Tempest received little attention when exhibited, partly because such subjects had long gone out of fashion, partly because the war curtailed press comment anyway. Hobson's modern assessment is that the picture is 'one of the best' of the artist's late works.