John William Waterhouse RA (1849–1917) was one of the greatest artists of his age and maintained close connections with the Royal Academy of Arts throughout his working life.
In John William Waterhouse's oil painting A Sketch for A Mermaid painted in 1892, the artist creates a setting of striking and fantastical eroticism and beauty by depicting an alluring, voluptuous young woman in the form of a mermaid upon the beach of a rocky cove. Unlike many of his other works, Waterhouse does not paint a specific scene from literature or mythology here, but one derived from imagination or local lore. As a result, there is little narrative present in this work. Waterhouse creates a situation in which the beautiful mermaid and her vulnerability and accessibility to the onlooker act as the uncontested focus of the composition.
To begin with, this female creature has no legs, but only fins. Thus, because she sits out of the water here and upon the rocks, Waterhouse presents her as literally immobilized and therefore as entirely defenseless and exposed. Not only does he depict this creature as an actual "fish out of water" in this way, he also has her looking off absently into the distance as she combs her extraordinarily long, luxurious hair. In incorporating this particular stance for his character, the artist creates a female figure that fully invites the gaze of the observer specifically that of the male. She not only draws attention to her own femininity and beauty by combing her hair here, but appears either oblivious or unconcerned by any potential onlooker's presence. In this painting therefore, Waterhouse has successfully created an aesthetically pleasing composition based in titillation and mystery by rightly relying on the fact that this alluring, enigmatic yet vulnerable and even immobilized female will serve as the ideal subject of the male onlooker's gaze.
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