Painting date: circa 1893
Medium: Oil on board laid down on panel
Size: 14 1/2 x 11 5/8 in / 36.8 x 29.5 cm
Location: Private Collection

A Study for La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

The following description comes from an auction catalogue: "This is is an oil sketch for Waterhouse's painting exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1893 and now in the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany. The subject is taken from the famous poem by Keats, who inspired a number of Waterhouse's pictures.

The Darmstadt painting is one of Waterhouse's most poetic creations, achieving a degree of emotional intensity which is unique in his oeuvre. It is reminiscent of an early watercolour by Rossetti, who had treated this subject in the 1850s, as Waterhouse was doubtless aware. The present study captures much of the same feeling and is unusual for Waterhouse is being so complete. It has almost the character of a small independent version."