Lycinna

Lycinna, painted in 1918, bears a Latin female name with no single famous bearer in classical literature, suggesting Godward was using it as a generic classical designation rather than a mythological reference — a practice common in late Victorian titling of classical figure compositions. The work belongs to Godward's very late period, produced just four years before his death by suicide in 1922. His late canvases show no retreat from his established approach despite the total irrelevance of that approach to contemporary art criticism, which had moved through Post-Impressionism, Cubism, and was absorbing Futurism and early Expressionism. This principled steadfastness — or, as critics framed it, stubborn anachronism — makes Godward a singular figure in early twentieth-century British painting. Lycinna shows the mature confidence of his Italian period: broader handling, richer colour, and a greater ease in the figure's relationship to the architectural setting.

Late Godward canvases typically show a slight broadening of the brushwork compared with his tightly finished 1890s work, with larger passages of wet-into-wet flesh modelling and freer handling of background architectural elements. The marble passages remain precisely rendered, but the figure receives a more painterly treatment, suggesting a confidence that no longer required the exhaustive surface finish of his earlier career.