Lot 59: John George Naish (1824-1905)

John George Naish (1824-1905)
The Water Nymph's Hymn to the rising moon
signed and dated 'J G Naish/1850' (lower left)
oil on board laid down on panel
7 x 8 in. (17.2 x 20.3 cm.)

Springfield, 1988, no. 67.

Ethel Bullock, Warwick, by 1904.
R.B. Colbourne, Warwick, by 1921.

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
Naish was one of the most pre-eminent practitioners of the distinctive genre of fairy painting, which flourished throughout the mid to late- Nineteenth Century. Often taking inspiration from Shakespeare, and specifically A Midsummer Night's Dream he frequently drew crowds at the Royal Academy. His works are microscopically detailed, and he delighted in the imagined gambollings of mythological figures. This picture was no doubt conceived following the success of The Water Nymph's Hymn to the rising sun, exhibited at the Royal Academy of 1849, no. 797. Given his aptitude for detail it is perhaps no surprise that towards the end of the 1850s Naish started to paint landscapes following Ruskinian precepts regarding 'truth to nature'.