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Waterhouse, John William (British, 1849-1917) |
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Gather ye rosebuds while ye may (Robert Herrick) Odon Wagner Gallery announces the discovery of Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may by John William Waterhouse, R.A. (1849-1917). Celebrating the splendour of youth and the joys of spring, the work has never been exhibited in public and was reproduced only once during the artist’s lifetime. The painting is signed and dated 1909 and has been established as the first picture in the Symbolist ‘Persephone’ series that engrossed Waterhouse from 1909 to 1914. For the Odon Wagner Gallery, the discovery of a Victorian painting of such high calibre has been extremely exciting. We were first made aware of Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may in the early fall of 2001. The title and the provenance of the picture, which is signed and dated 1909, were initially unknown. Preliminary research uncovered an illustration in Anthony Hobson’s The Art and Life of JW Waterhouse RA 1849-1917 (1980), which dated the picture circa 1911. Further investigation revealed one prior illustration in an article on Waterhouse published in the Studio in 1911. Permission to illustrate the work at that time had been given by the owner, Brodie Henderson. It became obvious that Hobson had never actually seen the painting, but had utilized the Studio photograph of the picture and dated it according to the date when the article appeared. From this point on, the importance of Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may continued to unfold with the help of the foremost Waterhouse expert, Peter Trippi of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York. Mr. Trippi is the author of a forthcoming monograph on Waterhouse, which will discuss Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may and illustrate it in colour. He has written an extensive essay on this exceptional work of art, which has since been published.
Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may is a celebration of youth, beauty and the rites of spring and embodies the very individual style of Waterhouse’s maturity. The painting depicts two beautiful nymphs picking flowers in an expansive meadow, watched by two of their companions in the distance. Waterhouse has orchestrated a rich harmony of colours in the composition of thick groves of trees against the sky and streams of dainty fountains in the flowered grass.  Waterhouse
drew his title for the present work from the well-known carpediem poem
by Robert Herrick (1591-1674), To the Virgins, to make much of Time. The
artist is positively imploring the young virgins he has depicted to
enjoy their blossoming beauty before it fades, along with the flowers
that they are picking. The unusual altar-like shape and large scale of
the canvas further evokes the idea that this work is a votive to
feminine beauty.
One of the leading figures of the Victorian school of art and one of Britain’s most famous and best-loved painters today, J.W. Waterhouse was born in Rome, the son of artist parents. Although he lived in England for much of his life, his inspiration was drawn from Italy and the landscape in Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may reflects his love of his adopted country.
Waterhouse is renowned as a masterful story-teller, instinctively
capturing the most striking moment of a narrative, and an important
aspect of the present picture is the theme of regeneration, as embodied
in the Greek myth of Persephone. Legend states that Persephone was
gathering flowers in the Sicilian meadows when Pluto seized her and
carried her off to his infernal underground world. The Harvest goddess,
Demeter, Persephone's mother, was so distressed that she caused all the
vegetation to wither. Eventually Zeus, ruler of the gods, ordained a
compromise, which mythologised the cycle of the seasons. Persephone
became the queen of Hades in the winter before returning to Demeter
every spring, enabling the flowers to bloom again. |
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