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George Frederick Watts, (born Feb. 23,
1817, London—died July 1, 1904, Compton, Surrey, Eng.), English
painter and sculptor of grandiose allegorical themes.
Watts believed that art should
preach a universal message, but his subject matter, conceived in
terms of vague abstract ideals, is full of symbolism that is often
obscure and today seems superficial.
Watts attended the Royal Academy sporadically between 1835 and 1837,
exhibiting among other works “The Wounded Heron” (1837; Watts
Gallery, Compton).
He twice won competitions for the decoration of the Houses of
Parliament, and although neither design was ever carried out in
fresco, the prize money enabled him to go to Florence in 1843 and to
visit Rome and Naples between 1843 and 1847; the most obvious
Italian influence in his work is that of Titian.
The most famous of his later works,
“Hope” (1886; version in the Tate Gallery, London), is ambiguous and
may be ironic in meaning.
Although he tended to despise portrait painting, Watts completed
many shrewdly observed portraits of his famous contemporaries,
notably that of Cardinal Manning (1882; National Portrait Gallery,
London). The house in which he died now contains a permanent
collection of his works.
Encyclopædia Britannica |
Augusta, Lady Castletown
Preyer
Adam and Eve
Life's Illusions
Mrs George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck and her Children
Fata Morgana
Time, Death and Judgement
Orpheus and Eurydice
The Court of Death
Endymion
The Spirit of Christianity
Russell Gurney
The Genius of Greek Poetry
Psyche
Violet Lindsay
El Sembrador del universo
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Cardinal Manning
Mrs Arthur Sassoon
The Messenger
Death Crowning Innocence
"She shall be called woman"
Jonah
Orlando Pursuing the Fata Morgana
The Recording Angel
Time, Death and Judgement
The Denunciation of Adam and Eve
The Creation of Eve
'For he had great possessions'
Faith
'Sic Transit'
Portrait of Sir John Everett Millais
Frederic Lord Leighton
Mammon
Love and Death |
