George Frederic Watts OM RA Paintings

Oil on canvas. Framed dimensions are 28 inches high by 21 inches wide. George Frederick Watts enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools in 1835 but left soon afterwards to work in the atelier of the sculptor William Behnes, who communicated to Watts his unstinting admiration for classical Greek sculpture. He received a single painting lesson from an unidentified miniaturist, who explained to him which colours were most appropriate to use in order to copy an original portrait by Peter Lely. This rudimentary apprenticeship appears to have been adequate, as Watts demonstrated from the start of his career a firm grasp of style and line and soon made rapid progress. His first ever client and subsequent patron was Constantin Lourdes, whose portrait he painted in 1840 (members of the Lourdes family had sat for portraits for five successive generations). The allegorical style that Watts adopted was in line with the Pre-Raphaelite approach; this is at its most evident in his best-known composition, Hope, painted in 1886 and now in London's Tate Gallery. Watts entered the competition for decorations for the new Parliament buildings and secured one of three first prizes for his Caractacus Borne in Triumph through the Streets of Rome, which earned him more than enough to underwrite a visit to Italy. In Florence, he was warmly received by the English envoy to the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who invited him to stay at the British Embassy at Casa Ferroni and at his own country residence, the Villa Careggi. Watts spent four years in Italy, during which time he started experimenting with fresco compositions. Some examples of his fresco work are still on view at the Villa Careggi. It is worth noting that he did not copy one single artist but rather drew inspiration from many, although he was particularly impressed by the work of Titian. He returned to London in 1847 and again won a first prize in the competition for decorations for the new Parliament building, this time with a King Alfred Inciting the Saxons to Resist the Danes preparing to Land in England. The painting earned him a substantial fee, as did a subsequent commission to paint a mural of St George Slaying the Dragon. Watts painted his first 'English' frescoes in 1858. Although his body of work chiefly comprises portraits, he has frequently been compared to Puvis de Chavannes for his murals. He made his exhibition debut at the Royal Academy in 1837 and continued to exhibit his small portraits, genre compositions and still-lifes on a regular basis thereafter. In 1841 (?), he made his first appearance at the British Institution, to which he submitted only six compositions throughout his entire career. His original submission was entitled Vertumnus and Pomona. He was admitted to associate membership of the Royal Academy in 1867 and to full membership in 1868. He was also an honorary member of the Cambrian Academy. He exhibited at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris and was awarded the cross of the Légion d'Honneur. Group Exhibitions 1978, The Victorian High Renaissance, Manchester City Art Gallery 1994, Heaven on Earth: The Religion of Beauty in Late Victorian Art, Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham Solo Exhibitions 1974, G.F. Watts, 1817-1904: A Nineteenth-Century Phenomenon, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 2006, Painting the Cosmos: Landscapes by G.F. Watts, Watts Gallery, Compton Museum and Gallery Holdings Aberdeen (AG and Mus.): Orpheus and Eurydice (1869, oil on canvas); Eve Tempted (1881, oil on canvas); Self-portrait (1882, oil on canvas) Birmingham (Mus. and AG): Roman Lady; Portrait of Edward Burne-Jones (1870, oil on canvas); Britomart (c. 1878, oil on canvas, character from the 'Faerie Queene' by Edmund Spencer); Little Red Riding Hood (1890, oil on canvas) Bristol (City Mus. & AG): Love and Death (1875, oil on canvas); Death and the Pale Horse (oil on canvas) Compton (Watts Gal.): large collection of works Dublin: a sketch Glasgow (Kelvingrove AG and Mus.): Charity (1898, oil) Edinburgh (Nat. Gal. of Scotland): Mischief (oil/panel) Edinburgh (Scottish Nat. Portrait Gal.): Baron Francis Napier (1866, oil/panel) Essen: Death and the Messenger Florence (Uffizi): Self-portrait (1880) Leicester: Orlando Pursuing Fata Morgana Liverpool (Walker AG): Sir Galahad...