John William Godward was an English painter from the end of the Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but his style of painting fell out of favor with the rise of modern art. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1887. When he moved to Italy with one of his models in 1912, his family broke off all contact with him and even cut his image from family pictures. Godward returned to England in 1921, died in 1922, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, West London.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Godward
More Godward: https://artvee.com/artist/john-william-godward/
I think it was intentional, to contrast the intensity of detail and clarity of the foreground.
A little unfair that he peaked right when his style went out of fashion, oof.