The Water-Lily. 1861. Etching on steel in black ink on paper, 3 15/16 x 4 ½ inches (10 x 11.4 cm) – image size. Private collection. [Entire page] Click on image to enlarge it.
This etching shows two boys on a bank of a pool with sticks, one of whom is trying to pull a water lily in the foreground towards him. Susan Casteras has called “The Water Lily, perhaps Smetham’s most successful incorporation of a Pre-Raphaelite screen of foliage into a composition with both figural and landscape element”(99).
Bibliography
Casteras, Susan P. James Smetham: Artist, Author, Pre-Raphaelite Associate. Aldershot, U.K.: Scholar Press, 1995.
Last modified 24 March 2022