Oil paint on canvas
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Henry Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-william-waterhouse-583" aria-label="More by John William Waterhouse" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">John William Waterhouse</a>
Consulting Oracle
Presented by Sir Henry Tate 1894
actions: processes and functions
adults
carpet
congregation
dress: fantasy/fancy
exotic
furnishings
groups
heating and lighting
interiors
light / lamp
listening
magic and occultism
objects
oracle
people
priestess
prophecy
religion and belief
religious
religious
society
temple
universal religious imagery
woman
work and occupations
<p>When Waterhouse exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy in 1884, he appended the following description: ‘The Oracle or Teraph was a human head, cured with spices, which was fixed against the wall, and lamps being lit before it and other rites performed, the imagination of diviners was so excited that they supposed that they head a low voice speaking future events’. The priestess motions for silence as she bends forward to catch the mysterious utterances. The setting is probably imaginary, but has an exotic, middle-eastern flavour.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
29 August 2001 – 25 July 2005
2005-07-25
29 August 2001
2001-08-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-08-29
Art and Victorian Society
Collection based display
17 December 2008 – 31 January 2010
2010-01-31
14 December 2008 – 3 May 2009
2009-05-03
2008-12-14
Groninger Museum (Groningen, The Netherlands)
http://www.groninger-museum.nl
23 June 2009 – 13 September 2009
2009-09-13
2009-06-23
Royal Academy of Arts (London, UK)
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk
1 October 2009 – 7 February 2010
2010-02-07
2009-10-01
Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (Montréal, Canada)
http://www.mmfa.qc.ca
2008-12-17
J.W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite
Loan-out
14 December 2018 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
13 May 2021 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
2021-05-13
Hungarian National Gallery (Budapest, Hungary)
2018-12-14
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Tate partnerships & programmes
7 June 2025 – 16 November 2025
2025-11-16
7 June 2025 – 16 November 2025
2025-11-16
2025-06-07
Musée de Pont-Aven (Pont-Aven, France)
2025-06-07
Sorcières (1862-1914)
Loan-out
Consulting the Oracle
support: 1194 × 1981 mm
frame: 1670 × 2468 × 190 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999962" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Sir Henry Tate</a> 1894
<p>Miracles, magic and the power of prophecy are common themes in Waterhouse's art. In this picture he shows a group of seven young girls, sitting in a semicircle round a lamplit shrine, waiting in excitement while the priestess interprets the words of the Oracle.  

</p><p>The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy with the following explanation in the catalogue: 'The Oracle or Teraph was a human head, cured with spices, which was fixed against the wall, and lamps being lit before it and other rites performed, the imagination of diviners was so excited that they supposed that they heard a low voice speaking future events.' The setting is probably imaginary, but has an exotic, middle-eastern flavour, derived from the work of artists such as J.F. Lewis (1805-1876), rather than from personal experience.  The atmosphere is heady with incense and the priestess gestures to the women to be silent as she strains to interpret the utterings of the mummified head. 

</p><p>Hobson compares the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>'s <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> to the shape of a keyhole.  As he explains, 'This refers not to some telescopic view of the scene but to the keyhole shape of the figure grouping, in which a ring of spectators concentrate their attention upon another single figure' (quoted in Hobson 1989, pp.31-4).  The composition, for all its exoticism, is essentially <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/classicism" title="Glossary definition for 'Classicism'"><span>classical</span></a>.  The series of arched windows, the semi-circular design of the floor and the sweep of the marble step set up a rhythm within the painting.  This is counterbalanced by the diagonals of the patterned rugs and the leaning body of the priestess, her hand silhouetted against the daylight, streaming through the open window.  The women's varied expressions of apprehension add to the atmosphere of tension as the priestess waits for the oracle to speak.

</p><p>Contemporary critics remarked on the 'hysteric awe' of the semicircle of women seeking the prophecies of the Teraph and the 'terror' of the priestess as she 'interprets its decrees' (quoted in Hobson 1989, p.34). The <i>Illustrated London News</i> featured the picture as one of the principal works of the year and reproduced it across two pages of an extra supplement. It was bought by Sir Henry Tate, who included it in his founding bequest to the nation in 1894.

</p><p>A study for the composition, in grey and brown wash, is also in the Tate collection (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/waterhouse-study-for-consulting-the-oracle-verso-studies-of-i-same-composition-ii-t02106" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T02106</span></a>).

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Anthony Hobson, <i>J.W. Waterhouse</i>, Oxford 1989, pp.31-4, reproduced p.33.<br/>Christopher Wood, <i>Victorian Painting</i>, London 1999, pp.236-42.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="para1">
<span class="text0">When Waterhouse exhibited this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> </span><span class="text17">at the Royal Academy in 1884, he appended</span><span class="text0"> </span><span class="text16">the following description: ‘The      Oracle </span><span class="text15">or Teraph was a human head, cured with      spices, which was fixed against the wall, and lamps being lit before it and      other rites performed, the imagination of diviners was so excited that they      supposed that they head a low voice speaking future events’. The      priestess </span><span class="text0">motions for silence as she bends      forward to catch the mysterious utterances. The setting is probably      imaginary, but has an exotic, middle-eastern flavour. </span>
</div>

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2004-09-08T00:00:00
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actions: processes and functions adults carpet congregation dress: fantasy/fancy exotic furnishings groups heating and lighting interiors light / lamp listening magic and occultism objects oracle people priestess prophecy religion and belief religious religious society temple universal religious imagery woman work and occupations