I find Waterhouse the greatest of the late 19th-century British painters. His women are full of life. He was a master at capturing the slightest expression to convey the personalities of his models. His compositions are superb. Paintings such as the 1888 "The Lady of Shalott" and the 1894 treatment of the same subject are as powerful as they are beautiful.

Hobson makes his admiration of Waterhouse's paintings obvious. This makes the book a very enjoyable read. It is a wonderful introduction to Waterhouse's work. Hobson spends a lot of time discussing paintings--this is something that is too often forgotten in art history texts. He identifies aspects of Waterhouse's compositions that help make his paintings outstanding. He describes the literary sources of Waterhouse's subjects. He mentions the artists who influenced Waterhouse's style. The essays are clear and well-organized. Anyone who is interested in Waterhouse's work should read this book.

During my education and professional life as an artist and professor of art the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and their contemporaries especially Waterhouse was/is extremely appealing and inspirational to me and many of my peers who are painters or illustrators. His work is among the best of his and any era since. The lavish reproductions in this book do homage to the wonderful God-given ability of the artist. Waterhouse's nymphs, faeries and women are innocent, gorgeous, and fetching, his colors deep, dark and lush, his men heroic and altruistic. If you love PreRaphaelite era art, Romanticism, mythical stories skillfully representated in figure art, this is the book for you. Though I bought the book for the reproductions, I recently read the text and found it helpful.

I discovered the work of Waterhouse fairly recently at anexhibition of art in Seattle of paintings from England's RoyalAcademy. I fell in love with his work instantly, started looking for websites about him & stumbled across a website bearing his name which recommended this book. Needless to say I purchased it instantly. I agree with the previous reviewer that it is a shame about the b/w reproductions (many of them are reproduced in color on the website mentioned above), but it is more than made up for with the wonderful research that Anthony Hobson had done (I have found out that sadly he died in late 1999). To sum up: a wonderful introduction to the work and life of John William Waterhouse, a timeless master among British artists!