The New Perfume by John William Godward

A hushed sensuality and an absolute aesthetic rigor characterize this masterful exploration of the partial nude inserted into a Roman dressing room. With the superb canvas named “The New Perfume”, the independent creator John William Godward delivers an intimate vision of extraordinary linear and decorative refinement. The work prefigures the attraction to a voluptuous Orient or Antiquity, favoring the beauty of the bodily curve and the richness of the surrounding precious materials over any dramatic anecdote.

A young brunette woman is depicted standing in partial profile, her upper body bare as she examines a piece of jewelry between her hands. She is wrapped in a fine tunic of a translucent scarlet red that delicately reveals the perfect curve of her slender legs. She stands before a circular gray marble table supported by feet carved in the shape of mythological winged lions. On this table rests an open dark wooden box, inlaid with geometric patterns in light mother-of-pearl and ivory. The floor is composed of a pavement of multicolored marble tiles, closed on the left by a heavy drapery in brick-red velvet.

The craftsman’s artisanal excellence bursts forth in the smooth and porcelain-like rendering of the skin and the shimmering of the box’s inlays. His rigorous oil technique eliminates all brushstrokes to achieve an ideal and sculptural realism of rare perfection. This meticulous work confirms the splendor of his technical expertise.