Megilla 1921

John William Godward created this painting, Megilla, with oil. Look at the precision and almost photographic smoothness of the face. To me, it’s like he's not just painting a person, but making a real object, like marble, come to life. I'm drawn to the way the folds of her dress and the marble background seem to blend together, each reflecting light and shadow in a similar way. The buttons are like little glowing pearls holding the whole thing together. Notice how the surface is really smooth; there's hardly any sign of brushstrokes. It’s like he wants you to forget that this is paint on canvas, and just see the image. It brings to mind some of those Academic painters, like Bouguereau, who could paint skin so realistically you’d think you could touch it. Godward, like them, was part of this long conversation about how to represent the world, and whether you can really capture it perfectly on canvas.