JOHN WILLIAM GODWARD (BRITISH 1861-1922)A BIRTHDAY PRESENTOil on canvasSigned and dated 'J. W. Godward 97' (lower left)46 x 56cm (18 x 22 in.)Provenance: Messrs. Thomas McLean, London 21 September 1897Private Collection, UKLiterature:McLean letter to Godward (21 Sept 1897) Mio-Turner CollectionSwanson, Vern Grosvenor, The Eclipse of Classicism¸ 1997, p.195Swanson, Vern Grosvenor, The Eclipse of Classicism¸ 2018, p.275John William Godward (1861-1922) was one of the last of the classical painters of the Victorian age. Slightly younger than his better-known counter parts: Sir Frederic Leighton (1830-1896), Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), and John Poynter (1836-1919) he was working in the dawn of a new, modernist era at the end of the 19th century, one which had little place for the Classical ideals of Antiquity which had dominated art for the last 500 years. His career has been described by Swanson as the 'Eclipse of Classicism'. The author goes on to expand that Godward's career 'offers the clearest example of the demise of classical Greco-Roman subject painting' (Swanson, p.8). As a reclusive genius, and someone who almost certainly had Asperger's Syndrome, little is known about Godward's private life. This is partly due to his strict family upbringing and somewhat overbearing mother, Sarah Eboral, who outlived her son by 13 years, dying at the age of 100 in 1932. When Godward moved to Italy with one of his models in 1912, his family broke contact with the artist, destroyed many papers, and removed his image from family pictures. Indeed, only one photo of the artist is thought to exist. Although little is known about the young artist's schooling, as the eldest of five children, by all accounts Godward came from a respectable bourgeois family and ideal Victorian home. It is therefore likely that his family would have been able to afford to send him a private school, as was common for middle class children at that time. What is certain, is that there was pressure for all the Godward children to follow their father's lead into the family profession of insurance, investing and banking. Although his siblings all seem to have succeeded in this expectation, John William did not. Between 1879 and 1881, it is believed Godward studied under the architect William Hoff Wontner (1814 - 1881). This apprenticeship seems the likely source for Godward's ability to render perspective and architectural elements, as well as being able to realistically depict marble and porphyry. It was around this time that Swanson believes Godward turned his aspirations to becoming a fine artist. Whether Godward received any formal art training is purely a matter of speculation as there are no records, but given his family's insistence that he follow in his father's footsteps into the work of business, it seems unlikely that he would have had access to any instructional study. We do know however that by 1881, Wontner had died, and his son William Clarke had taken over the family business. By 1885, Wontner and Godward had become best friends, and the former had taken a post at St. John's Wood Art School. It is perhaps not too much of a leap then, to assume that at least some instruction was taken from his friend. It is most likely that Goward's exposure to specifically Graeco-Roman subject painting came through seeing contemporary work at the Royal Academy or Royal Society of British Artists. In 1887, his own debut work, A Yellow Turban, (No. 721) was accepted into the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He continued to exhibit with the Royal Academy until 1905. It was also during 1887, that Godward exhibited for the first time at the RBA, with a painting called Poppaea (No. 401). Three years later, he was officially elected as a member of the organisation. In 1888, Godward exhibited his oil, Ianthe (No. 941), at the Royal Academy. Upon seeing the painting, he was approached by the infamous art dealer Arthur Tooth who asked whether he might include it in his own Winter Show of that year. In addition to Ianthe, Godward produced nine further paintings for Tooth's show. His relationship with Tooth ultimately failed to extend beyond the exhibition however, as he decided to proceed with another dealer and Tooth's next-door neighbour, Thomas Miller McLean (1832-1909). Throughout his career Messers. Thomas McLean would deal hundreds of oils for the artist with great success.The present lot is no exception, and together with another work from the previous year, Winding the Skein (Sawnson, p.69, illustrated), is one of only a handful of works from this period to include more than one figure. Here, in a marble walled garden, we see the skill in which the artist depicts the red and grey tones in the smooth creamy stone set against a planter of poppies and blooming oleanders. Classical motifs are arranged throughout the work, including a small bronze statue of Venus, a white marble carving of Pan pulling a thorn from a hoofed Satyr, a variation of the sculpture in the Pio-Clementine Museum, and to the right of the work, a bronze vase atop a round marble table with lion monopodia leg. Centre stage are two figures dressed in beautiful turquoise and purple tunics. One woman seated on a tiger skin, a common motif in Godward's work, is presented with a birthday gift by her attendant: a beautiful Portland cameo glass vase. The first decade of the new century was one of the best for Godward as an artist. Imperial interest grew as prosperity throughout the British Empire rose. However, by 1911, the art scene in Britain had changed significantly, and this would shortly be echoed throughout the whole of society with the start of the Great War. The founding of the Camden Town Group in 1911, followed by the death of Alma Tadema in 1912, and the emergence of the Vorticist movement just before the start of World War I in 1913-14, as well as the Great War itself, marked the beginning of the end of the Classicist painters. It was amongst this backdrop that Godward moved to Rome, perhaps believing that he could escape the new dawn on the horizon which was already a reality in London. In Italy he found a seductive blend of ancient, medieval, and classical cultures. Unsurprisingly, little is documented of Godward's time in Italy, however by 1916, the new way of painting which he had so hoped to escape in London had made its way to the Continent. Nonetheless, Godward stayed in Rome until 1921. He spent most of his time working out of a studio at the Villa Strohl-Fern despite the villa's one hundred or so studios being filled with younger, more modern looking artists. He returned to England briefly in 1919, to attend his nephew's funeral and again in 1920 to attend his brother's wedding. Returning to Rome, his mood was low. The following year his health deteriorated, affected by Spanish influenza and depression. As a result, he only produced five paintings. This reduced to two in 1921. London was much more hostile to his art than Rome had been, and his depression and ill health did not improve once home. He became a recluse, and failing to feed himself properly, soon became malnourished and fell ill to a peptic ulcer. Rather than continue in his misery, and see his art suffer further at his inability to paint, the artist committed suicide on 13 December 1922, aged 62.
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