Hylas and the Water Nymphs by Henrietta Rae: The Pool That Kept Him (1909)
What happens when beauty asks you to come closer, and the water is already doing the asking? In Henrietta Rae’s Hylas and the Water Nymphs (1909), the answer is a pool under trees, not a struggle. Hylas kneels on the bank in a blue tunic, one hand lifted, while the naiads rise out of the lilies and reach for him. No one is dragging him yet. The picture stops on the moment before he disappears. Henrietta Rae, Hylas and the Water Nymphs , 1909. Oil on canvas. Public-domain artwork by Henrietta Rae. Fine-art print available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get this painting as a print → License Artwork Quick facts Artist: Henrietta Rae (1859–1928) Title: Hylas and the Water Nymphs Date: 1909 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 142.3 × 222.8 cm (56 × 87¾ in.) Exhibition: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, 1910, no. 447 Subject: Hylas, companion of Heracles, at the spring where the naiads take him Status: Public-domain...