Pompeian Girl 1889

John William Godward painted this work, *Pompeian Girl,* using oil paints. Like many artists of his time, Godward turned to the ancient world, but it's interesting to consider how he did it. Rather than making a direct record of antiquity, he filtered it through a highly polished technique. Note the marbling of the pillar, which is rendered with meticulous realism. And observe the delicate treatment of the girl's drapery. It’s as though he is showing off his ability to convincingly render any surface. Godward was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and this painting has much to say about the tastes of that period. There was a widespread appetite for scenes of luxury and leisure, and a corresponding demand for artists who could convincingly produce them. Godward's skill was his fortune, but perhaps also his undoing. As tastes changed, his work fell out of favor, a consequence of the art world's shifting valuation of skill and labor.