John William Waterhouse, R.A., R.I.

Bought in Sweden by a private collector c.1985

Probably Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, 1876, no.135, priced £19

Peter Trippi, J.W. Waterhouse, 2002, p.23

The canvas has not been lined. There is very fine craquelure to the figure. A small speck of paint loss to the wall hanging above the figure's head with a few further specks of paint loss in the lower left and lower right hand corners. UV light inspection reveals no evidence of any retouching or restoration. Held in a wooden gilt frame.
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This rediscovery is a rare example of Waterhouse's early work, full of spontaneous charm and luscious colour. Waterhouse had painted Middle Eastern subjects in the earliest years of his career in the 1870s, including The Slave of 1872 (private collection) and An Unwelcome Companion - A Street Scene in Cairo (Townley Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Burnley). It is likely that the present picture is An Odalisque painted in 1876. The term odalisque derives from the Turkish word for chambermaid or attendant. It is usually used in British and French art to identify an Ottoman harem girl. The inclusion of the potted star-gazer lily and the qabqab (wooden Ottoman stilt shoes) inlaid with mother-of-pearl, adds to the exoticism of the painting. 

The resemblance of the model in the present picture to the prophetess in Consulting the Oracle of 1884 (Tate), suggests that it is contemporary. The two pictures share an Orientalist setting with pierced woodwork, hanging lamps, Turkish carpets and a striped banquette. Whilst the oracular subject was a large, dramatic and rather macabre picture, the present painting is more light-hearted and more easily understood. The subject of a woman dressing her hair was explored in At Capri of 1889 and prefigured the artist's A Mermaid painted in 1900 (Diploma Collection, Royal Academy of Art). There are two similar pictures by Waterhouse, An Eastern Interior with a Seated Girl dated 1886 (Bonham's, 12 December 2013, lot 63) and An Eastern Reminiscence (private collection) which probably also dates to the early 1880s.

We are grateful to Peter Trippi for authenticating this painting.

'Youthful, slender women with pale skin and dark brown or dark red hair are clearly Waterhouse's ideal. The rosy blushes on their cheeks give their pale faces a gentle expression and authenticity.'
Elizabeth Prettejohn, Peter Trippi, Robert Upstone and Patty Wageman, J.W. Waterhouse, 2009, p.52