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拍品专文
The present drawing is a study for the figure of Echo, at the same scale as she is in the oil painting (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, fig. 1). Waterhouse rarely made full-scale studies for his paintings in this way, more often using small sketchbooks to formulate ideas and poses, before working directly onto the canvas. As such the importance of the painting is evident in the production of the study. Using the same technique employed by Burne-Jones, he has drawn his model nude, in order to understand the movement and tensions of her body in the pose, before adding the drapery later. The hands and feet are left unrealised, waiting for their setting in order to take shape. The strong, sweeping lines have a sinuous fluidity which captures the elegance and poise of the heartbroken nymph.
Whilst the myth of Narcissus is hugely well-known and has been frequently represented by artists throughout the ages, the related story of Echo is a more unusual subject. The myth of Narcissus has been told for at least two thousand years, whilst Echo first appears in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in which she is the catalyst for Narcissus’s fate. Seeing him walking in the woods one day, she fell in love and tried to embrace him. Narcissus pushed her away, leaving her heartbroken, and she faded away until nothing but an echoing sound remained. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, learnt of this and decided to punish Narcissus, luring him to a pool where he saw his own reflection and, not realising it was only an image, fell in love with it. Eventually realising the futility of this, he committed suicide.
Waterhouse, although twenty years younger than the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, became increasingly influenced by their work throughout his career, both stylistically and in terms of subject matter, and made his first notable foray into Pre-Raphaelitism with his 1888 The Lady of Shalott (Tate Britain). It is this later style, rather than his early classicism, for which he is best remembered. The Times in his obituary (12 February 1917) described his work as ‘pre-Raphaelite pictures in a more modern manner’, and he was seen to take up the mantle of Edward Burne-Jones in his retelling of ancient stories. Perhaps best-known for his Tennysonian scenes, episodes from the Metamorphoses in fact account for a greater number of his works. Echo and Narcissus was Waterhouse’s major work in the 1903 Academy Exhibition, and was critically well-received: The Studio commented that ‘Mr Waterhouse, indeed, has not often before touched so high a level, admirable artist as he always is’. Waterhouse brilliantly captures the intricacies of the story within a single moment – Echo and Narcissus separated by the pool, him reaching futilely towards his reflection which he cannot touch, whilst she gazes longingly across at him, unable to reach him.
Whilst the myth of Narcissus is hugely well-known and has been frequently represented by artists throughout the ages, the related story of Echo is a more unusual subject. The myth of Narcissus has been told for at least two thousand years, whilst Echo first appears in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in which she is the catalyst for Narcissus’s fate. Seeing him walking in the woods one day, she fell in love and tried to embrace him. Narcissus pushed her away, leaving her heartbroken, and she faded away until nothing but an echoing sound remained. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, learnt of this and decided to punish Narcissus, luring him to a pool where he saw his own reflection and, not realising it was only an image, fell in love with it. Eventually realising the futility of this, he committed suicide.
Waterhouse, although twenty years younger than the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, became increasingly influenced by their work throughout his career, both stylistically and in terms of subject matter, and made his first notable foray into Pre-Raphaelitism with his 1888 The Lady of Shalott (Tate Britain). It is this later style, rather than his early classicism, for which he is best remembered. The Times in his obituary (12 February 1917) described his work as ‘pre-Raphaelite pictures in a more modern manner’, and he was seen to take up the mantle of Edward Burne-Jones in his retelling of ancient stories. Perhaps best-known for his Tennysonian scenes, episodes from the Metamorphoses in fact account for a greater number of his works. Echo and Narcissus was Waterhouse’s major work in the 1903 Academy Exhibition, and was critically well-received: The Studio commented that ‘Mr Waterhouse, indeed, has not often before touched so high a level, admirable artist as he always is’. Waterhouse brilliantly captures the intricacies of the story within a single moment – Echo and Narcissus separated by the pool, him reaching futilely towards his reflection which he cannot touch, whilst she gazes longingly across at him, unable to reach him.