John William Godward

Bonhams, London, 18 March 2003, lot 91

Private Collection, Limousin, France (acquired by 2005)

Christie's, London, 7 June 2007, lot 43

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Vern G. Swanson, J. W. Godward 1861-1922: The Eclipse of Classicism, Suffolk 2018, pp. 306-307, no. 1913.3, illustrated in color

Cleonice is a particularly refined example of the “ideal heads” that John William Godward produced throughout his career and epitomizes his lifelong devotion to the neo-classical tradition pioneered by Alma-Tadema and Leighton. Shown in profile, in deliberate evocation of a medieval portrait prototype, the model wears a pink dress bound with a green scarf. The sitter’s light hair and delicate features most closely recall the figure in The Belvedere, for which Godward won a gold medal at the 1913 Rome International Exhibition. Painted shortly after the artist’s move to Rome in the summer of 1912 where he established his studio at the Villa Strohl-Fern on the Monti Parioli, known for it's gardens of antique sculpture, Cleonice belongs to a period of exceptional artistic maturity and exemplifies the distinct classicism that defines Godward’s finest late work.