John William Godward - Leaning Against a Column - 1901
John William Godward - When the heart is young - 1902
John William Godward - Dolce Far Niente III (Sweet Idleness) - 1906
John William Godward - Dolce Far Niente I - 1897
John William Godward - Athenais - 1908
John William Godward - In the Tepidarium
An Offering to Venus - 1912
The Bouquet - 1899
With Violets Wreathed and Robe of Saffron Hue - 1902
John William Godward - Dolce Far Niente II - 1904
The Day Dream - 1920
John William Godward (1861 – 1922) was an English painter from the end of the Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but his style of painting fell out of favor with the rise of modern art.
He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1887. When he moved to Italy with one of his models in 1912, his family broke off all contact with him and even cut his image from family pictures.
He committed suicide at the age of 61 and is said to have written in his suicide note that
"The world is not big enough for [both] myself and a Picasso".
His estranged family, who had disapproved of his becoming an artist, were ashamed of his suicide and burned his papers. Only one photograph of Godward is known to survive.
This is the only known photograph of John William Godward that survives today
He had long perfected the art of staring through people, leaving conversations to follow his daydreams through the back of their heads and out any open window.