Watts (1817-1904) | Page 9

never were
and never will be.
Watts, however, was slightly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite school.

He might, had he wished, have been their portrait painter--and indeed,
the picture of the comely Mrs. Hughes, a kind, motherly creature, with
a background of distant fields, minutely painted, is quite on the lines of
Pre-Raphaelite realism.
[Illustration: PLATE VI.--LOVE TRIUMPHANT
(At the Tate Gallery)
Time and Death having travelled together through the ages, have run
their course and are at length overthrown. Love alone arises on
immortal wings, triumphantly, with outspread arms to the eternal skies.
Given to the nation in 1900.]
Somewhat of the same character is the portrait of Mrs. Nassau Senior,
who, with one knee on a sofa, is shown tending flowers, her rippling
golden hair falling over her shoulders. A full-length portrait of Miss
Mary Kirkpatrick Brunton, dated 1842, also belongs to the old style.
Watts had a passion for human loveliness, and in his day some of the
great beauties sat to him. The "Jersey Lily" (Mrs. Langtry) with her
simple headdress and downcast eye, appeared at the Academy of 1879.
"Miss Rachel Gurney" is a wonderful portrait of a flaming soul
imprisoned in a graceful form and graceless dress. Miss Gurney is
shown standing, turning slightly to the right with the head again turned
over the right shoulder, while the whole effect of energy seems to be
concentrated in the flashing eyes. Watts was able to interpret equally
well personalities of a very different character, and perhaps the canvas
representing Miss Edith Villiers is one of the most successful of his
spiritual portraits. Miss Dorothy Dene, whose complexion Watts was
one of the first to transfer to canvas, Miss Mary Anderson, and Miss
Dorothy Maccallum, were all triumphantly depicted. He will be known,
however, as the citizen portrait-painter of the nineteenth century, who
preserved for us not merely the form, but the spirit of some of the
greatest men of his day. Lord Tennyson sat three times. In 1859 the
poet was shown in the prime of life, his hair and beard ruffled, his look
determined. In 1864 we had another canvas--"the moonlight portrait";
the face is that of Merlin, meditative, thoughtful. As you look at it the

features stand out with great clearness, the distance of the laurels
behind his head can be estimated almost precisely, while seen through
them is the gleam of the moon upon the distant water. The 1890 portrait,
in scholastic robes, with grizzled beard, and hair diminished, is
Tennyson the mystic, and reminds us of his "Ancient Sage"--
"... for more than once when I Sat all alone, revolving in myself The
word that is the symbol of myself, The Mortal limit of the self was
loosed And passed into the Nameless, as a cloud Melts into heaven."
The portrait of John L. Motley, the American Minister to England in
1869, and author of "The Rise of the Dutch Republic," is one of the
most successful paintings of handsome men; Watts here depicts
perfectly the "spiritual body" of strength, purity, and appeal; the eyes
are deepest blue, and the hair the richest brown. In this case the artist
has, as he was so prone, fallen into symbolism even in portraiture, for
we can trace in the background a faint picture of an old-time fighting
ship.
Another classic portrait, so different to that by Whistler, is of Thomas
Carlyle. The sage of Chelsea sits ruffled and untidy, with his hands
resting on the head of a stick, and his features full of power. He seems
protesting against the few hours' idleness, and anxious to get back to
the strenuous life. The sitter was good enough to say that the portrait
was of "a mad labourer"--not an unfair criticism of a very good portrait.
The Biblical Paintings are, as before said, in partial fulfilment of the
frustrated scheme of "Cosmos." "Eve Repentant," in an attitude so
typical of grief, is perhaps the most beautiful; it is one of a trilogy, the
others being "She shall be called Woman," and "Eve Tempted." It is
singular that in these three canvases the painter avoids the attempt to
draw the face of the mother of the race. In the first the face is upturned,
covered in shadow; in the second it is hid from view by the leaves of
the forbidden tree, while in the third Eve turns her back and hides her
weeping face with her arms. This habit of Watts to obscure the face is
observed in "The Shuddering Angel," Judgment in "Time, Death, and
Judgment," in "Love and Death," "Sic Transit," "Great Possessions,"
and some others. Often indeed a picture speaks as much of what is not

seen as of what is seen.
Incidents from the Gospels are represented by "The Prodigal," where
the outcast is