About a year ago I bought a lovely little reproduction painting at the Alameda antique faire in northern California. It had a romantic softness to it, a fresh, greet the day sort of romance. It looked old, too, and reminded me somehow of a fantasy novel. Mists of Avalon, maybe. Something girly and epic.

Fast forward to today: I’m reading an interview with an author, Patrick Rothfuss, with whom I am currently a bit enamored. He’s been entertaining me for weeks with the first two books of his Kingkiller trilogy (fantasy, a bit Harry Potter-esque but more adult and a bit more fresh) and he mentions this painter, JW Waterhouse. Naturally, I google him, and what do I find but that very same painting I found at the antique faire… !! (I also find that Waterhouse is incredibly famous and I should have been aware of his existence ages ago, but alas, better late than never.)

This is the painting: Destiny (1900)

Destiny

John William Waterhouse painted in the late 19th/early 20th century. His works draw mostly on Greek myth and women of the Arthurian legends (no wonder I was reminded of Mists of Avalon.) 

Here are a few more that I adore:

Boreas

Apollo and Daphne

Psyche Opening the Golden Box

The Awakening of Adonis

The Lady Clare

The Orange Gatherers