After his marriage in 1883 to Esther Kenworthy, Waterhouse took up residence at the Primrose Hill Studios. In 1884, his Royal Academy submission Consulting the Oracle brought him favourable reviews; it was purchased by Sir Henry Tate, who also purchased The Lady of Shalott from the 1888 Academy exhibition. The latter painting reveals Waterhouse’s growing interest in the themes associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, particularly tragic or powerful femme fatales, as well as plein-air painting. Other examples of paintings depicting a femme fatale are Circe Indiviosa, Cleopatra, La Belle Dame Sans Merci and several versions of Lamia. In 1885 Waterhouse was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy and a full member in 1895. His RA diploma work was A Mermaid. However, as this painting was not completed until 1900, Waterhouse offered his Ophelia of 1888 as his temporary submission.

In the mid-1880s Waterhouse began exhibiting with the Grosvenor Gallery and its successor, the New Gallery, as well as at provincial exhibitions in Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. Paintings of this period, such as Marianne, were exhibited widely in England and abroad as part of the international symbolist movement. In the 1890s Waterhouse began to exhibit portraits. In 1900 he was the primary instigator of the Artists’ War Fund, creating Destiny, and contributing to a theatrical performance. The pictures offered to the War Fund were auctioned at Christie’s. In 1901 hw moved to St John‘s Wood and joined the St John’s Wood Arts Club, a social organisation that included Alma-Tadema and George Clausen. He also served on the advisory council of the St John’s Wood Art School where young and upcoming “neo Pro-Raphaelites” artists such as Byam Shaw numbered amongst his pupils.

Despite suffering from increasing frailty during the final decade of his life, Waterhouse continued painting until his death from cancer in 1917.