Magic Circle. The Magic Circle is an oil painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style, created in 1886 by John William Waterhouse.
The painting depicts a witch or sorceress drawing a fiery magic circle on the earth to create a ritual space. The Magic Circle was shown at the Royal Academy in 1886, and, after Consulting the Oracle and St. Eulalia, was Waterhouse's third exhibit with a supernatural theme in as many years.
The painting was well received at its exhibition, and was purchased for E650 the same year by the Tate Gallery, through the Chantrey Bequest. The painting was extremely successful with the critics and public alike.
Two smaller studies or complementary works of The Magic Circle were painted as well as a sepia pen and ink in 1880-1881. The Magic Circle was recently on display at the National Gallery of Australia as part of the Love and Desire exhibition.
In a style typical of Waterhouse, the main character is a lone, female figure, placed centrally on the canvas. The surrounding landscape is hazy, as though it is not quite real, and the background figures are only discernible on close inspection, deliberately ensuring the witch is the only image of importance. Waterhouse paid careful attention to the angles employed in this work, balancing the circle the figure is drawing around herself by the use of a triangle-her straight arm, extended by the straight stick, held out at 25 degrees to
The painting depicts a witch or sorceress drawing a fiery magic circle on the earth to create a ritual space. The Magic Circle was shown at the Royal Academy in 1886, and, after Consulting the Oracle and St. Eulalia, was Waterhouse's third exhibit with a supernatural theme in as many years.
The painting was well received at its exhibition, and was purchased for E650 the same year by the Tate Gallery, through the Chantrey Bequest. The painting was extremely successful with the critics and public alike.
Two smaller studies or complementary works of The Magic Circle were painted as well as a sepia pen and ink in 1880-1881. The Magic Circle was recently on display at the National Gallery of Australia as part of the Love and Desire exhibition.
In a style typical of Waterhouse, the main character is a lone, female figure, placed centrally on the canvas. The surrounding landscape is hazy, as though it is not quite real, and the background figures are only discernible on close inspection, deliberately ensuring the witch is the only image of importance. Waterhouse paid careful attention to the angles employed in this work, balancing the circle the figure is drawing around herself by the use of a triangle-her straight arm, extended by the straight stick, held out at 25 degrees to
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