John William Waterhouse

The artist's estate

Sale: Christie's, London, The Remaining Works of the Late J.W. Waterhouse, Esq., R.A., 23 July 1926, bought by Dr James Nicoll

Gifted to Mr George Packham and thence by descent to Mrs George Packham

Gifted to her neighbour Mrs L.A Duran, Banstead, Surrey

Thence by descent

Sale: Sworders, Essex, 31 March 2021, lot 518

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

William Morris retold the Greek myth of Psyche in his Earthly Paradise. The Goddess of Love, Venus, was jealous of the beauty of the mortal princess Psyche and sent her son Cupid to shoot a magical arrow at her so that she would fall in love with a monstrous creature. Instead, Cupid wounded himself with the arrow and fell in love with Psyche himself. The cursed girl was abandoned by her family on a mountainside and saved by Zephyrus, the gentle god of the west wind. The sleeping Psyche was carried away by Zephyrus and awakes in Cupid’s glorious palace where she is waited on by invisible servants. Cupid visits her every night but she is forbidden to see his face. Goaded by her jealous sisters, Psyche lights an oil-lamp one night to see her lover’s face. The sight of his beauty makes her tremble and a drop of oil falls onto his sleeping body and he flees. She walks the earth searching for him but in vain. Eventually she pleads with Venus to help her and the Goddess sets a series of impossible tasks. The fourth of these challenges is to take a golden box to the Underworld to obtain a dose of beauty from Proserpine. Psyche is told not to look in the box, but she cannot resist. She opens the box and it is sleep not beauty that she finds within. She falls into a deep slumber but Cupid eventually finds her, takes her to Zeus, who takes pity on the Princess and transforms her into a Goddess to marry Cupid on equal terms.

This is a study for Waterhouse’s painting Psyche Opening the Golden Box exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1903 (private collection). A similar drawing, made for Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid’s Garden, was illustrated in an article published in The Studio in September 1908 ‘Some Drawings by J.W. Waterhouse, R.A.’ In both drawings the artist sketched the figure in pencil and refined the outlines and moulding of anatomy with red chalk. This bold and confident way of drawing is similar to how Waterhouse painted, sketched roughly at first with detail added in later layers.