Echo and Narcissus (Waterhouse painting)

Common card · No. 485580

Echo and Narcissus is a 1903 oil painting by John William Waterhouse. It illustrates the myth of Echo and Narcissus from Ovid's Metamorphoses. John William Waterhouse (1847–1917) was an English painter who, because of his style and themes, is generally classified as a Pre-Raphaelite. He painted over 200 works, mainly in the genres of classical mythology, and of historical or literary subjects. One of his common themes is the femme fatale, the woman who ensnares a man. In Ovid's version of the myth, Narcissus was the beautiful son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. His parents were told that he would live to an old age if he did not look at himself. He rejected all the nymphs and women who fell in love with him. One of these was the nymph Echo, who could only repeat the words of others. She was so upset by her rejection that she withdrew from life and wasted away until all that was left was a whisper. Her prayers were heard by the goddess Nemesis who caused Narcissus to fall...

Read on Wikipedia · Image John William Waterhouse, Public domain