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John William Godward Autumn "Autumn" by John William Godward
1900(1900)
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John William Godward Dolce far Niente or Sweet Nothings Dolce far Niente or Sweet Nothings
1904(1904)
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John William Godward Youth and Time Date 1901(1901)
Medium Oil on canvas
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John William Godward Old Old Story Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 71.5 X 86.5 cm (28.15 X 34.06 in)
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John William Godward By the Wayside Date 1912(1912)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 49 1/8 X 32 5/8 inches (125 X 83 cm)
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John William Godward Belvedere Date 1913(1913)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 34 1/2 X 23 1/2 inches (87.8 X 59.8 cm)
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John William Godward New Perfume Date 1914(1914)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 40 1/8 X 20 inches (102 X 51 cm)
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John William Godward Priestess Date 1895(1895)
Medium Oil on board
Dimensions 12 1/4 X 6 1/4 inches (31.2 X 16.1 cm)
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John William Godward Drusilla Date 1906(1906)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 52 1/2 X 32 3/8 inches (133.5 X 82.5 cm)
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John William Godward The Ring by John William Godward The Ring by John William Godward
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John William Godward Lesbia with her Sparrow Date 1916(1916)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 38 7/8 X 19 3/8 inches (99 X 49.5 cm)
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John William Godward Campaspe Date 1896
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John William Godward Idle Thoughts "Idle Thoughts" by John William Godward
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John William Godward Study of Campaspe Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 14 ¼ X 7 ½ inches (36.2 X 19.3 cm)
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John William Godward Erato at Her Lyre Date
Medium Oil on canvas
Current location Public collection
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John William Godward At the Garden Shrine Pompeii Medium Oil on canvas
Current location Private collection
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John William Godward He Loves Me He Loves Me Not Date 1896(1896)
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 31 7/8 X 17 5/8 inches (81.2 X 45 cm)
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John William Godward Autumn Description Godward - Autumn.jpg
"Autumn" by John William Godward
Date 1900
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John William Godward Sweet Nothings by Godward Description Sweet Nothings by Godward.jpg
Dolce far Niente or Sweet Nothings
Date 1904
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John William Godward A Pompeian Garden Painted in 1904, oil on canvas.
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John William Godward
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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'.
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