Echo and Narcissus

1903

Oil on canvas, 109 × 189 cm · Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Shown at the Royal Academy in 1903 and bought by the Walker Art Gallery the same year. Waterhouse sets the two figures on opposite banks of a pool.

Narcissus lies on the bank, lost in his own reflection.
Echo watches from across the water, hemmed in and unseen.
The landscape is built from bold, decorative shapes.

The nymph Echo, able only to repeat others’ words, loved Narcissus, who loved only his reflection. She faded to a voice; he wasted away and became a flower.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain