Contents
Before the disappearance
Hylas is still on the bank. His pitcher is beside him, and hands reach from the water towards his arm. The painting gives us a meeting to look at before we know how the story ends.
Manchester Art Gallery identifies this as Waterhouse's 1896 painting of Hylas, an Argonaut whose task was to fetch fresh water for the crew. Its account tells how the nymphs drew him into the depths and his companions searched for him in vain. [1] That ending changes how we read a gesture that might otherwise seem welcoming.
Start at the arm contact. Then look across the water, counting the heads and following where each face turns. Finally compare the scene with an ancient telling and with the museum’s stated aim for its 2018 takeover.
Follow the pitcher and the hands
The brown pitcher is partly concealed beneath Hylas's arm. Find the pale curved edge of the pitcher beside his arm. The museum’s account describes Hylas searching for fresh water for the crew and filling his pitcher. [1]
Outlined area locates this detail in the whole painting. Return to the whole painting.
Now follow the pale arms towards him. A hand curls around his forearm. The woman nearest him turns her face upwards; another face appears behind her. Across this small area, the pitcher, the bodies and the contact compete for our attention.
Look at Hylas's bent posture in the whole painting. His body bends from the bank towards the pool. The picture does not show him submerged. The disappearance belongs to the story the viewer brings to this encounter.
Try covering the faces for a moment and looking only at the arms. Does the contact appear to guide, hold or pull?
Count the figures, then follow their gaze
Seven nymphs occupy the water. Count them in the whole image. Include the head turned away from us at the lower edge and the figure among the reeds at the left. A count made only from the central cluster would miss part of the arrangement.
Their faces are not all offered to us in the same way. Some look towards Hylas; one face turns upwards at the right, while the foreground figure shows the back of her head. Flowers and auburn or chestnut hair recur across the group. Look for differences in angle and height before treating the nymphs as one repeated shape.
Outlined area locates this detail in the whole painting. Return to the whole painting.
Outlined area locates this detail in the whole painting. Return to the whole painting.
The pale bodies emerge against a much darker pool. Look below the lily pads as well as above them: translucent greenish forms remain visible beneath the surface. Follow the edge of a pad until it interrupts a body. What is concealed by vegetation, and what is concealed by the surface?
What Theocritus tells us
An ancient account offers more than the ending. In the 1889 prose edition of Theocritus’s Idyl XIII, printed on pages 67-70, Heracles loves Hylas and takes him on the voyage. Hylas goes for water carrying a bronze vessel. The nymphs cling to his hand, and he sinks into the dark water. [2]
The poem names three nymphs: Eunice, Malis and Nycheia. [2] The text gives these three names without stating a total count. Compare its naming of individuals with the seven figures we can count in Waterhouse’s scene.
The poem continues beyond the encounter that we read in the painting. The nymphs comfort the weeping boy. Heracles calls three times, and Hylas's reply sounds far away although he is nearby. Heracles ranges over the countryside, and Jason’s quest is postponed. [2]
Reading this account shifts attention to an absent person: Heracles, whose search is outside Waterhouse's frame. Return to the pitcher and hands. The task, the encounter and the later search belong to different moments of the narrative; a single picture cannot show them all.
Why was the painting removed in 2018?
The museum's takeover label records a temporary removal as part of a January 2018 evening takeover involving Sonia Boyce, invited artists, gallery staff and visitors. It describes the act as encouraging discussion of representations of gender, class, race and sexuality and the collection’s relationship to contemporary life. [3]
The museum's account of Boyce's Six Acts adds an important distinction. Conversations had begun in 2017. Members of the gallery team decided to temporarily remove Hylas and the Nymphs, leaving questions in its place. The takeover was filmed and photographed, and Boyce developed the material into a six-screen installation. [4]
This gives the painting a second context for looking: its place in a public collection. Consider what its label explains and what it leaves for the viewer to decide. Who appears in the picture, who does not, and how does knowing the myth alter the way we see the encounter?
The painting remains the object we are examining. The intervention is another work, with its own makers and history. You can read the museum's account of Six Acts alongside the image without assuming that enjoying Waterhouse's painting requires agreeing with every interpretation of it. [4]
The painting and its frame
The current museum record gives the unframed painting as 98.2 × 163.3 cm. Its framed dimensions are 133 × 197 cm, with a depth of 10.5 cm. [1] Art UK’s acquisition field records that it was purchased from the artist in 1896. [5]
The distinction matters when imagining its scale. This page follows the museum's unframed dimensions.
Common questions
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Was the painting permanently removed in 2018?
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Are the larger dimensions the size of the canvas?
No. The current museum record distinguishes 98.2 × 163.3 cm unframed from 133 × 197 cm framed. [1]
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Does the painting illustrate Theocritus exactly?
This is our comparison with the poem, rather than evidence of Waterhouse’s literary source. The poem names three nymphs without giving a total count. [2] Seven nymphs can be counted in the whole painting.
Prints by John William Waterhouse are available. View the collection →
