John William Godward, R.B.A.

D.T. Brown, North Wales (and sold, Christie's, London, December 21, 1933, lot 30)
Gallert (acquired at the above sale)
Sale: Christie's, London, February 19, 1934, lot 68
Nathan Mitchell, London (acquired at the above sale)
Sale: Sotheby's, London, June 4, 1969, lot 52
Greville (acquired at the above sale)

Emmanuel Bénézit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs de tous les pays, Paris, 1976, vol. V, p. 80
Vern Grosvenor Swanson, John William Godward: The Eclipse of Classicism, Suffolk, 1997, p. 230, no. 6

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work is in beautiful condition. The canvas is unlined. The paint layer is clean and varnished. No retouches are visible under ultraviolet light. It is recommended that the work be hung in its current state.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Marcella illustrates John William Godward's extraordinary talent as a colorist and draftsman. Set against masterfully recreated marble and painted with a controlled palette, the model is placed in profile — a pose that both emulates the figures on ancient Roman coins and allows the viewer to easily observe her graceful neck, blushed cheeks, and long eyelashes. Her chestnut hair is tied with a golden ribbon, and her diaphanous rose stola is fastened with pearls and tied with a green ribbon featuring a Greek key pattern. 

Godward achieved the height of his fame in Britain and Internationally in 1910 and 1911, and he relocated to Rome in 1912, when the present work was painted, where he lived in one of the “studii di Pittura e Scultura”  of the Villa Stohl-Fern.  From its construction in 1879 by the Alsatian Alfred Wilhelm Strohl-Fern, the studio complex had provided seclusion for painters from Arnold Böcklin to Ilya Repin in which to find inspiration. Escaping the pressures of London, Godward likely enjoyed the villa’s expansive gardens, both for their abundant, diverse botanicals and the many Roman sculptures that were set there.  Yet Godward was not in Rome to holiday; consumed by an almost obsessive interest in female beauty, he toiled away in his studio and built an oeuvre of glamorous, youthful and humidly sultry classical maidens. Indeed, upon visiting his fellow artist in the winter of 1912-3, Sir William Russell Flint found that Godward  “worked steadily at his Greek maidens,” with Marcella among the works the focused artist completed in this prolific period (Swanson, pp. 100-1).   Their elegant profiles and diaphanous robes are set upon backgrounds of cool reflective marble and underscored by mythic titles, confirming Godward’s infatuation with Antiquity; his paintings are as enduring and iconic as the smoldering beauties that he represents.