Destiny

Date created: 1900

"In 1899 the Boer War had begun in South Africa, and in the spring of 1900 350 artists donated works to the Artists' War Fund in support of the British troops. After being exhibited in the London Guildhall, the pictures were auctioned by Christie's, who waived the £12,000 profit in favour of the Fund.

Destiny was painted by Waterhouse especially for the cause, as shown by his own inscription 'Artists' War Fund' above his signature, and was selected by The Studio as one of the most noteworthy in the exhibition. The girl drinking a libation to the departing heroes was a favourite model for the rest of his career; statuesque in her beauty, she casts a sympathetic gaze towards the ships already under sail. Waterhouse's setting is typical of his origins - Italianate and geometrical: the circles of the mirror and its stand are repeated in the arches of the tiled loggia and the front of the lectern."

(Anthony Hobson)