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Lot Essay
Miranda from The Tempest was Waterhouse’s first depiction of a heroine from Shakespeare's play. In 1875, he painted what is believed to be his first version of Miranda and exhibited it at the Royal Academy. Waterhouse then returned to the subject matter periodically, perhaps most notably, producing Miranda, The Tempest of 1916.
In both style and composition, the present lot bears similarity to the 1875 painting. Both depictions present Miranda sitting on a rocky outcrop, in classical dress. What sets these two works apart from their later counterparts is the lack of a ship on the horizon. The painting, therefore, pre-empts the narrative of the play. Elizabeth Prettejohn writes, of the 1875 work, that ‘this early work, more unusually, represents a moment before the beginning of the action: Miranda, seated gracefully on a rock, looks out to the distant ship, still untroubled, although ominous clouds are beginning to gather behind her back’ (E. Prettejohn, J.W. Waterhouse, The Modern Pre-Raphaelite, p. 70).
We are grateful to Peter Trippi for confirming the attribution of this work.
In both style and composition, the present lot bears similarity to the 1875 painting. Both depictions present Miranda sitting on a rocky outcrop, in classical dress. What sets these two works apart from their later counterparts is the lack of a ship on the horizon. The painting, therefore, pre-empts the narrative of the play. Elizabeth Prettejohn writes, of the 1875 work, that ‘this early work, more unusually, represents a moment before the beginning of the action: Miranda, seated gracefully on a rock, looks out to the distant ship, still untroubled, although ominous clouds are beginning to gather behind her back’ (E. Prettejohn, J.W. Waterhouse, The Modern Pre-Raphaelite, p. 70).
We are grateful to Peter Trippi for confirming the attribution of this work.