Papers by Jennifer Ehlert
This thesis examines how three works by British painter John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), Hyla... more This thesis examines how three works by British painter John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), Hylas and the Nymphs (1896) (Manchester City Art Gallery), The Awakening of Adonis (1900) (private collection) and Echo and Narcissus (1903) (Walker Art Gallery) can be read as reactions to the increasing role of the male body as spectacle in nineteenth-century visual culture. The thesis is particularly concerned with the idea of the female gaze and how the women in these paintings view the male as objects. Waterhouse, who painted mainly under the auspices of the conservative Royal Academy of Art in London from 1871 until his death in 1917, is best known for paintings of mystical women. However, after 1890, he turned to Ovid’s Metamorphosis and other Greek/Roman writings as inspiration. The three paintings listed above reflect this change, depicting Greek myths about adolescent boys whose beauty decides their destinies. They also reflect a change in style, as the figures lose their heavy dre...
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Papers by Jennifer Ehlert