This is the only known oil painting of Dorelia in the
nude. It relates in subject to a series of pencil and ink
studies of Bathers, circa1904-08, in which there is a
watercolour titled By the Lakeside featuring a naked
Dorelia standing in shallow water with a group of
women and children (A.D. Fraser Jenkins, exhibition
catalogue, Augustus John: Studies for Compositions,
Cardif, National Museum of Wales, 1978, no. 43,
illustrated). The watercolour is dated 1907, when the
family spent the summer on the Normandy coast.
Augustus liked to experiment with landscape in his
fgure compositions, placing his Bathers amongst
imaginary lakes and mountains, or on a beach
between steep rocks. The foreground of the present
work may be partly imagined but the distant clif
appears to have been observed from life and would
not be out of place on the Normandy coast.

Dorelia was reluctant to pose nude for Augustus,
and for years Dorelia in a Rockpool was kept hidden
in the artist’s studio at Fryern Court. Her modesty
is apparent: arm held across her breast, cloth tied
at the hip, her face in shadow as she looks down to
take a step forward in the water. She holds out her
left arm for balance, her unfnished hand giving the
impression of movement. It is a tender scene, made
atmospheric by contrasting light: on the far horizon
the strip of turquoise sea and vivid green clif top
suggest a summer day, while the sky and the rocky
clif sheltering the pool appear to be painted in
fading light.

The dimensions of the work are similar to Dorelia
standing before a Fence, circa 1905(Tate, London)
and Dorelia in the Garden at Alderney Manor, circa
1911(National Museum of Wales, Cardif).
We are very grateful to Rebecca John for preparing
this catalogue entry.