'Wolf, wolf!'

Ernest Waterlow painted 'Wolf, wolf!' in 1888, during a particularly productive period of his career. By this time, the London-born artist had already won the prestigious Turner medal for landscape painting at the Royal Academy and was establishing himself as a master of both oil and watercolor. Though Waterlow is best known for his graceful landscapes—works that captured the British countryside with distinction and delicate handling—this intriguingly titled piece suggests a narrative element that appears less frequently in his oeuvre. The title evokes Aesop's fable of the boy who cried wolf, hinting at themes of deception, false alarms, or perhaps rural life where such warnings would have been genuine concerns. Waterlow had a keen ability to infuse his scenes with atmosphere and subtle storytelling, skills that made him highly regarded among his contemporaries. He would go on to become President of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1897 and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1903, eventually receiving a knighthood in 1902. This work from 1888 represents Waterlow at age 38, fully mature as an artist and confidently exploring subjects that combined his technical mastery with more complex narrative themes.