In fact, were it not for the provenance of the object in a Sotheby's catalogue, the image of the young woman might strike the gazer as rather tacky. It is a copy of popular images of what life in ancient Greece and Rome for women was really like, not a rendition of an actual woman with a unique facial expression. The catalogue terms "Idleness" a "rediscovery, a painting by one of the finest late Nineteenth Century Classicists, epitomizing the vogue for ladies in togas which held Middle-Class London under its enduring spell well into the Twentieth Century.

However, the word rediscovery neatly covers up the fact that this is a middle class work, not innovative high brow art even in its day, and a work with more than a superficial, passing resemblance to other works, such as Leighton's "Summer Slumber." If it were not for the historical location of the work, one might ask, in...

However, the 'sell' evidently worked, as the estimated auction price range of 120, 000-180,000 was met neatly in the median of the figure range at 140, 000 at its eventual hammer-price. But for a work of art to have potential investment value, surely it must have a timeless quality. This work, however, stands as very much of its Victorian, Neoclassicist time that fails to speak either to modern audiences or to art, and even its maker was not the major artist of the period, unlike Leighton or Whistler, as is admitted by the text in passing.
Works Cited

Godwin, W. (1908) "Idleness." Sotheby's Catalogue: Important British Pictures. http://search.sothebys.com/jsps/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?&live_lot_id=35&sale_number=L03125.[10 Feb 2005]