John William Waterhouse was a painter in the Pre-Raphaelite style; however, in approach he was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, but his paintings take the feminine feeling once step further. Waterhouse's creation of the mystique of the "femme fatale" is beyond compare. The Pre-Raphaelites changed the face of nineteenth-century painting beginning with the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood", and following through to the later works of the movement. As a youngster Waterhouse loved ancient history which he read voraciously, and this was to greatly affect his style in later years. He was a classical, romanticist painter giving to his art highly imaginative interpretations of mythological characters and personages from ancient history as well as from poetry and literature. Observe his use of soft pastel colors to depict porceline fine skin that is blushed ever so pink. When I study his subjects' delicate hands and feet I am in awe of how much he admired the feminine creation.
