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Lot Essay
The present drawing is a preparatory study for Waterhouse's Circe, circa 1911, offered in these Rooms, 13 June 2000, lot 37, which clearly relates to the unfinished Sorceress of the same year (private collection). In both oil paintings the figure of Circe is seated at a table, surrounded by artefacts relating to her powers as a sorceress, her hands folded under her chin, her gaze contemplative. Although the pose of the model is almost identical in both pictures her softer brow and neckline in the present drawing is closer in attitude to Circe than to The Sorceress in which her brow appears drawn together in greater concentration, intensified by her more angular and slightly protruding jawline.
Circe, the sorceress abandoned by Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey, is shown in these pictures, imagining Odysseus' subsequent encounter with the sirens, which she has magically woven in a tapestry, seen on the right of The Sorceress.
The subject of Circe was one that interested Waterhouse considerably. In addition to the two paintings already mentioned, Waterhouse painted Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus, 1891 (Oldham Art Gallery) and Circe Invidiosa, 1892 (Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide). Circe provided an excellent opportunity for the artist to depict his characteristic blend of innocence and sexual power, as one of his beautiful, girlish models is once again cast as a femme fatale.
Although the identification of Waterhouse's models has always proved problematic, it has been suggested that the model for this drawing, and the related paintings, was the red-haired, seventeen-year-old Beatrice Ethel Hackman (1889-1954) (also known as Beatrice Ethel Flaxman), who appears to have sat for Waterhouse between 1906 and 1916. For the majority of Waterhouse's paintings outside these dates his model is thought to have been Muriel Foster (for more information on Waterhouse's models see lot 4).
Circe, the sorceress abandoned by Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey, is shown in these pictures, imagining Odysseus' subsequent encounter with the sirens, which she has magically woven in a tapestry, seen on the right of The Sorceress.
The subject of Circe was one that interested Waterhouse considerably. In addition to the two paintings already mentioned, Waterhouse painted Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus, 1891 (Oldham Art Gallery) and Circe Invidiosa, 1892 (Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide). Circe provided an excellent opportunity for the artist to depict his characteristic blend of innocence and sexual power, as one of his beautiful, girlish models is once again cast as a femme fatale.
Although the identification of Waterhouse's models has always proved problematic, it has been suggested that the model for this drawing, and the related paintings, was the red-haired, seventeen-year-old Beatrice Ethel Hackman (1889-1954) (also known as Beatrice Ethel Flaxman), who appears to have sat for Waterhouse between 1906 and 1916. For the majority of Waterhouse's paintings outside these dates his model is thought to have been Muriel Foster (for more information on Waterhouse's models see lot 4).