Gossip, John William Waterhouse; oil on canvas, roughly 28 x 36 inches (72 x 93 cm). Link is to image page on Wikipedia; image is via a previous Christie’s auction; the painting is now in a private collection.
English post-Pre-Raphaelite (if that makes any sense) John William Waterhouse — whose usual metier was dramatic mythological and literary subjects — here gives us an unusually prosaic domestic scene.
Three women, engaged in doing laundry or taking care of a child, discuss events over the garden wall.
To me, the calm undramatic nature of the scene highlights its simple beauty. I love the tone and texture Waterhouse has created for the bricks, pots and stone pathway. The muted colors indicate an overcast day, and the colors take on a subtle strength as a result.
When you get up close, you see that Waterhouse was much more painterly than the Pre-Raphaelite painters he admired.
