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 Old, Old Story | Classical Beauty | Under the Blossom that Hangs on the Bough | A Classical Beauty In Profile | He Loves Me He Loves Me Not |
Related Artists:
Curt Herrmann
German, 1854-1929
Francesco Giuseppe Casanova
(1727-1803) was an Italian painter and a younger brother of Giacomo Casanova. Francesco Casanova Battaglia di cavalleria (oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris)Born in London, he trained in Venice under Francesco Guardi, then was a pupil of Francesco Simonini, a battle painter who took Borgognone as his model. Besides battle-pieces Casanova painted landscapes with figures and cattle, as well as pastoral subjects. He arrived in Paris in 1751, and went to Dresden in the following year, where he remained until 1757, spending his time in copying the finest battle-pieces of the famous Electoral Gallery. On his return to Paris he studied for a time under Charles Parrocel, and was received into the Academy in 1763. He exhibited at the Salon at intervals from that year till 1783, when he again quit France, going to Vienna, where he resided during the remainder of his life. Philip James de Loutherbourg was his pupil for a time.
Jakob Philipp Hackert
German 1737-1807 Jakob Philipp Hackert Gallery