Nude Woman Reclining No. 1

Ernest Waterlow, primarily celebrated for his distinguished landscape paintings in oil and watercolor, created this intimate figure study in 1882, the same decade he was establishing himself as a major force in British art. This work reveals a lesser-known aspect of his practice: the careful study of the human form through drawing. Executed in red crayon with white chalk highlights on cream paper, the work demonstrates the academic training Waterlow received at the Royal Academy schools, where he won the Turner medal for landscape painting in 1873. The technique of stumping—blending the crayon to create soft, atmospheric transitions—shows his mastery of tonal modeling and his eye for subtle gradations of light and shadow, skills that would serve his landscape work throughout his career.

By 1882, Waterlow was on the cusp of major recognition; he would become an associate of the Royal Watercolour Society just two years earlier in 1880, eventually rising to its presidency in 1897. This drawing likely served as a study, part of the traditional academic practice of life drawing that underpinned even the most specialized landscape painter's education. The generous scale of the sheet—nearly two feet wide—suggests this was no casual sketch but a serious exercise in observation. The cream paper provides a warm middle tone, allowing Waterlow to work both in the darker red crayon for shadows and white chalk for highlights, modeling form through light rather than line alone.