English 1861-1922 Godward was a Victorian Neo-classicist, and therefore a follower in theory of Frederic Leighton. However, he is more closely allied stylistically to Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, with whom he shared a penchant for the rendering of Classical architecture, in particular, static landscape features constructed from marble. The vast majority of Godward's extant images feature women in Classical dress, posed against these landscape features, though there are some semi-nude and fully nude figures included in his oeuvre (a notable example being In The Tepidarium (1913), a title shared with a controversial Alma-Tadema painting of the same subject that resides in the Lady Lever Art Gallery). The titles reflect Godward's source of inspiration: Classical civilisation, most notably that of Ancient Rome (again a subject binding Godward closely to Alma-Tadema artistically), though Ancient Greece sometimes features, thus providing artistic ties, albeit of a more limited extent, with Leighton. Given that Classical scholarship was more widespread among the potential audience for his paintings during his lifetime than in the present day, meticulous research of detail was important in order to attain a standing as an artist in this genre. Alma-Tadema was, as well as a painter, an archaeologist who attended historical sites and collected artefacts that were later used in his paintings: Godward, too, studied such details as architecture and dress, in order to ensure that his works bore the stamp of authenticity. In addition, Godward painstakingly and meticulously rendered those other important features in his paintings, animal skins (the paintings Noon Day Rest (1910) and A Cool Retreat (1910) contain superb examples of such rendition) and wild flowers (Nerissa (1906), illustrated above, and Summer Flowers (1903) are again excellent examples of this). The appearance of beautiful women in studied poses in so many of Godward's canvases causes many newcomers to his works to categorise him mistakenly as being Pre-Raphaelite, particularly as his palette is often a vibrantly colourful one. However, the choice of subject matter (ancient civilisation versus, for example, Arthurian legend) is more properly that of the Victorian Neoclassicist: however, it is appropriate to comment that in common with numerous painters contemporary with him, Godward was a 'High Victorian Dreamer', producing beautiful images of a world which, it must be said, was idealised and romanticised, and which in the case of both Godward and Alma-Tadema came to be criticised as a world-view of 'Victorians in togas'.  Related Paintings of John William Godward :. | The Ring | A Classical Beauty | Flabellifera | Autumn | Under the Blossom that Hangs on the Bough |
Related Artists:
SIBERECHTS, Jan
Flemish Baroque Era Painter, 1627-1703 Flemish painter, active in England. He was the son of the sculptor of the same name and became a master in the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp by 1648. He married in 1652 and moved to England sometime between 1672 and 1674.
FOUQUET, Jean
French Early Renaissance Painter, ca.1420-1477
Bonaventura Peeters
(Antwerp, 23 July 1614 - Hoboken (Antwerp), 25 July 1652) was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in seascapes and shipwrecks, known as Zeekens (small seascapes). Peeters, brother of the seascape painters Jan Peeters I, Gillis Peeters, and Catharina Peeters, learned to paint from his father, who became a master in Antwerp's guild of St. Luke in 1607 - 1608, and his earlier works are related to the tonal phase of Dutch landscape painting. Later paintings, however, reflect the stronger colors of Italianate classicism. This shift follows the general changes in artistic style at the time. Like his brother Jan, dramatic shipwrecks with dark billowy clouds, form a significant part of his oeuvre, as do serene ports and "portraits" of ships.Also, while many of Peeters's paintings reflect actual locations, and he may have even travelled along the coast of Scandinavia, his many views of far-away Mediterranean and Middle Eastern ports reflect a growing taste for the exotic and are probably inspired from fantasy and from prints. This tradition developed simultaneously in Flemish painting and in Dutch Golden Age painting, with many artists, including Peeters, working in both Antwerp and in the Dutch Republic.