Athenais by John William Godward

A hushed sensuality and absolute aesthetic purity characterize this masterful exploration of the partial nude inspired by ancient poetry. In the masterpiece named “Athenais”, the independent creator John William Godward delivers an intentioned vision of extraordinary linear and decorative refinement. The work prefigures the attraction to a voluptuous Antiquity, favoring the beauty of the female bodily curve and the richness of mineral materials over any purely narrative consideration.

A young woman with auburn hair adorned with a thin dark headband stands proudly in the center of the composition, fixing the viewer. She is entirely enveloped in a fine tunic of translucent scarlet red that delicately reveals the perfect curve of her slender body and the clarity of her bare breasts. With her lowered right hand, she holds a small fan of dense and soft black feathers. She leans against a high white marble wall sculpted in bas-relief depicting a frieze of ancient women dancing hand in hand. On the right, heavy golden and blue fabrics are thrown over the stone ledge.

The artist’s artisanal excellence bursts forth in the smooth and porcelain-like rendering of the skin through the pleating of the diaphanous silk. His masterful oil technique confers a perfect flatness upon the sculpted surfaces and a tangible texture to the feathers and fabrics with striking realism. This technical virtues confirms the perfection of his expertise.