John William Godward

John William Godward (9 August 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an English painter from the end of the Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but his style of painting fell out of favour with the rise of modern art.

Godward was born in 1861 and lived in Wilton Grove, Wimbledon. He was born to Sarah Eboral and John Godward (an investment clerk at the Law Life Assurance Society, London). The eldest of five children, he was named after his father John and grandfather William, and was christened at St Mary's Church, Battersea on 17 October 1861. The overbearing behaviour of his parents made him reclusive and shy later in adulthood.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1887. His growing popularity allowed him to move out of his parents' home to a studio in Chelsea, which he outfitted with antiques and marble statues to inform his painting. In 1912, Godward moved to Italy with one of his models, ultimately settling in Rome, near the Villa Borghese. Disliking his move to Italy, his family broke off all contact with him and even cut his image from family pictures.