J.W. Waterhouse

Boreas

Date: 1903
Medium: Oil on canvas

The reappearance of Waterhouse's Boreas in the saleroom in the mid 1990s caused a sensation as it had been lost for 90 years. Called Boreas after the north wind in Greek mythology, the work shows a young girl in a windswept landscape. In 1904 the Royal Academy notes described the subject as: In wind-blown draperies of slate-colour and blue, a girl passes through a spring landscape accented by pink blossom and daffodils. Since then, the picture's whereabouts have been unknown and it was referred to as lost in Anthony Hobson's 1989 biography of Waterhouse.

The painting was sold for £848,500 ($1,293,962) - the record price for a Waterhouse at the time.