John William Godward, R.B.A.

Thomas McLean, London;
Arthur Wood of Exbury, Hampshire, by 1897;
Christie's, 26 March 1982, lot 63;
Christie's, 14 March 1997, lot 52 where acquired for the Forbes Magazine Collection, Battersea House, London;
Forbes' sale, Christie's, 20 February 2003, lot 284;
Private collection

Royal Academy, 1897, no.664;
London, Owen Edgar Gallery, Master Paintings from Four Centuries, 1984

Vern Grosvenor Swanson, John William Godward - The Eclipse of Classicism, 1997, p.196, cat. no.1897.7., illustrated colour pl.34, p.61

STRUCTURE The picture is relined and there is a craquelure pattern throughout. Some areas to her legs have been infilled and subsequently discoloured, which could be improved by reapplying. There are a few minor abrasions along the right edge, two vertical surface abrasions running through her left foot and horizontal one to the right of them. There is a minor spot of paint loss to the right of her buttock. UNDER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT There is an uneven and opaque varnish. There are infillings that correspond to the above mentioned areas. FRAME Contained in a reproduction gilt frame (in good condition).
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The setting is an anti-chamber in a roman bath-house where a voluptuous golden-skinned woman stands naked on a tiger-skin, her garments thrown aside as she prepares for her ablutions. She is binding her hair with a green ribbon, in the manner of Polyclitus's statue of Diadamenos. Behind her is variegated marble archway with Corinthian capitals and a curtain decorated with golden gryphons and anthemion, beyond which can be seen a serpentine marble bathtub.

Venus Binding her Hair is among Godward's largest paintings and it is telling that it was painted at a time when the artist was seeking public and critical acclaim at the Royal Academy exhibitions. In the RA summer exhibition of 1897 it was give a 'place of honour' in Gallery VII according to Henry Blackburn's Academy Notes. Venus Binding her Hair was exhibited a year after Godward's nude Campaspe (sold in these rooms, 14 December 2006, lot 127) and is the same size as this and another nude The Delphic Oracle (Christie's, 3 June 1994, lot 153).

Godward's painting was exhibited fifteen years after Edward Poynter's notorious Diadumene (small version at Royal Albert Museum, Exeter and the prime version was sold in these rooms, 18 June 1985, lot 54) caused a minor scandal in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1884. Poynter's picture depicted the same subject of a woman tying a fillet around her hair in a bathhouse. It was accused of being indecent and Poynter was forced to add draperies to the naked figure (so diaphanous that they do little to hide her nakedness). Poynter and Godward's figures were based upon a celebrated marble statue by Polyclitus of a male athlete binding his hair and it was probably the same source that Alma-Tadema used for his A Sculptor's Model of 1878 (private collection) which was also criticised for its sensuality. Although Godward's picture was painted at a time when the furore over the acceptability of the nude in art had passed, he was careful to attach a classical title to the picture. However his girl binding her hair has the appearance of a mortal rather than a goddess and it is likely that, as with many of Godward's titles, the name Venus was merely intended to be an allusion rather than specific.

The model for Venus Binding her Hair was probably 'Lily' or Lilian, one of the three Pettigrew sisters who moved from Scotland to London to become artist's models and were favourites of Leighton, Whistler, Philip Wilson Steer and Millais, among others. Godward painted all three sisters, 'Hetty' Harriet, Rose and Lily from the late 1880s and Lily's mass of auburn hair and classical profile appears in paintings throughout the 1880s and 1890s.

We are grateful to Vern Swanson for his assistance with the cataloguing of this lot which will be included in his forthcoming monograph.