Watts (1817-1904) | Page 2

exhibited
at the Winter Exhibition of the New Gallery, 1896, and formed part of
the Watts Gift in 1897. It hangs in the Watts Room at the Tate Gallery.]
Italy, and particularly Florence, was perpetual fascination and
inspiration to Watts. There he imbibed the influences of Orcagna and
Titian--influences, indeed, which were clearly represented in the next
monumental painting which he attempted. It came about that Lord
Holland persuaded his guest to enter a fresh competition for the
decoration of the Parliament Houses, and Watts carried off the prize
with his "Alfred inciting the Saxons to resist the landing of the Danes."
The colour and movement of the great Italian masters, conspicuously
absent from the "Caractacus" cartoon, were to be seen in this new effort,
where, as has been said, the English king stands like a Raphaelesque
archangel in the midst of the design.
In 1848 Watts had attained, one might almost say, the position of
official historical painter to the State, a post coveted by the unfortunate
Haydon; and he received a commission to paint a fresco of "St. George
overcomes the Dragon," which was not completed till 1853. In this year
he contributed as an appendix to the Diary of Haydon--in itself an
exciting document, showing how wretched the life of an official painter
then might be--a note telling of the state of historical and monumental
painting in the 'forties, and of his own attitude towards it; a few of his
own words, written before the days of the "poster," may be usefully
quoted here:
ON THE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT OF ARTISTS
Patriots and statesmen alike forget that the time will come when the
want of great art in England will produce a gap sadly defacing the
beauty of the whole national structure....
Working, for example, as an historian to record England's battles,
Haydon would, no doubt, have produced a series of mighty and
instructive pictures....
Why should not the Government of a mighty country undertake the

decoration of all the public buildings, such as Town Halls, National
Schools, and even Railway Stations....
... Or considering the walls as slates whereon the school-boy writes his
figures, the great productions of other times might be reproduced, if but
to be rubbed out when fine originals could be procured; for the expense
would very little exceed that of whitewashing....
If, for example, on some convenient wall the whole line of British
sovereigns were painted--were monumental effigies well and correctly
drawn, with date, length of reign, remarkable events written underneath,
these worthy objects would be attained--intellectual exercise,
decoration of space, and instruction to the public.
The year 1848 was a critical time for Watts; his first allegorical picture,
"Time and Oblivion," was painted, and, in the year following, "Life's
Illusions" appeared on the walls of the famous Academy which
contained the first works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Watts was
not of the party, though he might have been had he desired; he
preferred independence.
Watts' personal life was at this time pervaded by the influence of Lord
and Lady Holland, who, having returned from Florence to London, had
him as a constant visitor to Holland House. In 1850 he went to live at
The Dower House, an old building in the fields of Kensington. There,
as a guest of the Prinsep family, he set up as a portrait painter. His host
and family connections were some of the first to sit for him; and he
soon gained fame in this class of work.
There was a temporary interruption in 1856, when a journey to the East,
in company with Sir Charles Newton, for the purpose of opening the
buried Temple of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, gave Watts further insight
into the old Greek world; and, one cannot but think, stimulated his
efforts, later so successful, in depicting for us so many incidents in
classical lore. We have, in a view of a mountainous coast called "Asia
Minor," and another, "The Isle of Cos," two charming pictorial records
of this important expedition. The next six years of the artist's life were
spent as a portrait painter; not, indeed, if one may say so, as a
professional who would paint any one's portrait, but as a friend, who
loved to devote himself to his friends.
In pursuance of his principles touching monumental work, Watts
engaged himself over a period of five years on the greatest and the last

of his civic paintings--namely, the "Justice; a Hemicycle of
Lawgivers," to which I shall later refer.
Watts was a man who seems to have enjoyed in a singular degree the
great privilege of friendship, which while it has its side of attachment,
has also its side of detachment. Even in his youthful days he never
"settled down," but was a visitor and guest rather than an attached
scholar and