John William Godward

The artist was born into the most boringly respectable family of insurance and bank clerks. The eldest of the 5 children of John and Sarah Godward, he was born on the 9th of August in 1861 in Battersea on the Thames. During his youth, the family moved to Fulham in Chelsea, and finally to Wimbeldon in Surrey. Destined by his authoritarian parents to become an insurance clerk, Godward escaped by taking architectural classes from W.H. Wontner, and a few evening classes from local art schools. Wontner's son, William Clarke Wontner (1857-1930), a few years older than Godward and further along in his artistic career, also mentored him. Later, Godward would reciprocate by being a major influence on Wontner's Art. In 1887 the artist had progressed far enough to exhibit at the Royal Academy. That year he moved from his parents' house to live at the Bolton Studios in Chelsea. There he worked with Thomas Kennington, Henry Ryland, George Lawrence Bullied and others who often painted classical subjects. By 1891 he had his own studio at St. Leonard's Studio. Then in 1895 he purchased a larger estate at No. 410 Fulham Road. Godward became a short-lived member of the Royal Institute of British Artists during James McNeill Whistler's presidency. He exhibited at the Royal Academy till 1905, and the New Gallery till 1908. He then completely dropped out of English society for the rest of his life. One can't help but wonder what went wrong. Did he suffer from depression, the loss of a loved one, or an unfulfilled love affair? Or, was that the pressure he was experiencing from his snob family which strongly disapproved his career as an Artist, too much to bear? We know only that Godward's family felt his career had tarnished the family's reputation. He was sustained in his career by a powerful art dealership, Messrs. Thomas McLean of Haymarket Street and their successors, Messrs. Eugene Cremetti. He was successful enough that we can rule out the source of his despair being financial worries. With his letters and notes gone, one can only speculate as to the cause of this tragedy.
His suicide cut short a life of a genius. I would take Godward's paintings ten million times over those by Picasso! How disappointed he must have felt that painters like Picasso would be even compared to his genial Artwork! Below: Ophelia

Godward was a Victorian Neo-classicist, and therefore a follower in theory of Frederic Leighton. However, his style is more closely reminiscent of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema's, 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 paintings depict women in Classical Greeko-Roman dress, posed against landscape features; although there are some semi-nude and fully nude figures included among his paintings as well (e.g., In The Tepidarium, 1913), a title shared with a controversial Alma-Tadema painting of the same subject. The latter is exhibited in the Lady Lever Art Gallery). The titles reflect Godward's source of inspiration: Classical civilization, especially that of Ancient Rome (linking Godward closely to Alma-Tadema's artistic credo), and Ancient Greece, that links his themes with Leighton's.

Alma-Tadema was, as well as a painter, an archaeologist who attended historical sites and collected artifacts that were later used in his paintings. Similarly, Godward studied architecture and dress details and painted these meticulously to the tiniest detail. Animal skins (e.g., the paintings Noon Day Rest, 1910; and A Cool Retreat, 1910) and wild flowers (Nerissa (1906) also shown in his painting Summer Flowers (1903) are examples of his one-of-a-kind observational skills of finest details.

Because he painted so many beautiful women, less experienced Art critiques called him a Pre-Raphaelite painter; however, the choice of his topics (ancient civilization) is more properly identified as that of the Victorian Neo-classic master.

The painting below is entitled Yes or No (1893) and is exhibited in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Germany



The painting below is entitled Youth and Time (1901)

The painting below is entitled Sweet Nothings / Dolce Far Niente
Look at the almost photographic details, such as the folds of the girl's robe, the reflection of object in the water of the pond, etc.

The painting below is entitled Summer Flowers



The painting below is entitled Sappho (1910)



The painting below is entitled Phyleis (1908)



The painting below is entitled La Pensierosa (The Thinker) (1913)



The painting below is entitled Drusilla (1906)



The painting below is entitled Athenais (1908)

While there is not enough space on this lens to put all of the paintings Godward created in his short but fruitful painting career, it is my hope that the few paintings I am showing here are enough to convince even the most sceptical Art buff of Godward's unique style and extraordinary talent as a painter.

Below:
Godward: At the garden Shrine Pompeii



Godward: Ancient Pastimes (1916)



The next picture is entitled Amaryllis (1903)



The next painting is entitled Absence Makes the Heart Grow

The painting below is entitled A Priestress 1894



Another early work by Godward: Lyanthe