Boreas is an oil painting

Oil painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

 in the Pre-Raphaelite style created in 1903 by John William Waterhouse

John William Waterhouse

John William Waterhouse was an English painter known for working in the Pre-Raphaelite style. He worked several decades after the breakup of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which had seen its heydey in the mid-nineteenth century, leading him to have gained the moniker of "the modern Pre-Raphaelite"...

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Subject

The painting is titled Boreas, after the Greek god of the north wind and it shows a young girl buffeted by the wind. The 1904 Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

notes described the subject of the painting as:

"In wind-blown draperies of slate-colour and blue, a girl passes through a spring landscape accented by pink blossom and daffodils".

Provenance

Boreas was put up for sale in the mid-1990s after having been lost for 90 years - causing quite a sensation in the art community. The painting achieved a record price for Waterhouse at that time, achieving a price £848,500 ($1,293,962USD).