John William Waterhouse was born on 6 April 1849 in Rome, Italy and died in London of cancer on 10 February 1917. Waterhouse's mother and father were painters and throughout his life they called the son “Nino”, since Giovannino (“Giovannino”) was the eldest of three; a younger brother Edwin and a sister named Jessie. When Nino was eight years old he saw his mother die and shortly after his father remarried. Between 1861 and 1870 his father and new stepmother gave birth to four children, which represented a drastic life change for Nino and his two younger biological brothers. In 1861 Nino had to leave school and his sister Jessie went to live with an aunt. Fortunately, it wasn't long before his growing family achieved some financial success. He managed to begin studies in classical history, literature and mythology and also learned Latin at an unidentified main school (Kerr, J. 2000). Nino Waterhouse did not have a particularly strong desire to become a painter as a young man, but was more interested in engineering. It is said that if he had wanted to look at art he would have taken advantage of the exhibitions held at his main school and taken part in enriching services in London during the holidays. After completing his studies, Nino began to help his father in painting backgrounds for commissioned portraits. Shortly thereafter, between the years 1868 and 1877, Nino's name appeared in various museum registers. It is believed that around this time his love of painting began to emerge (Kerr 2000). On page 14 In Peter Trippi's book entitled John William Waterhouse, he notes this; "Nino's earliest surviving sketchbook depicts classical statues, armor, and musical instruments, as well as... half of sheet... d. Although much of John William Waterhouse's life story is unexplained, it is comforting having such a wide and undeniable selection of his masterpieces is hard to stop looking at his work once you start, especially because the myths behind the paintings are so compelling and he tells these old world stories as anyone who believes in Waterhouse would he was truly a genius when it came to creating pictorial and emotional balance (Trippi, 2000). Bibliography • Beckett, W., Wright, P. (1999). sister Wendy Beckett in Western Art. New York, New York: DK Publishing.• Kerr, J., (2000). P. (2002). J. W. Waterhouse. London: Phaidon Press Limited.