watts gallery teacher's resources

Watts GalleryWatts Gallery was first opened to the public in 1904. It houses the permanent collection of George Frederic Watts OM RA (1817-1904), including drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures. It was the first purpose-built art gallery to show a single professional artist’s collection. Designed by Christopher Hatton Turnor (1873–1940) the Gallery is a listed Arts & Crafts building. It was also constructed to house apprentice potters who worked in the Compton Pottery, founded by Mary Seton Watts, Watts’s second wife. The Watts’s home Limnerslease is located nearby.

Watts Cemetery ChapelThis unique chapel was designed and built by Mary Seton Watts between 1894 and 1904. It fuses Art Nouveau, Celtic, Romanesque and Egyptian influence with Mary’s own original style and was designed to be a place of comfort and inspiration. The rich symbolic imagery of the River of Life and the Tree of Life reinforce a message of renewal and resurrection. Mary, together with her team of trained crafts-people and local villagers created the wealth of decoration, polychrome inside and outside in red terracotta. The Chapel is still in use today and is owned by Compton Parish Council

LimnersleaseLimnerslease was built for Watts and his wife in 1890-91. Their love for the area developed during frequent visits to friends living in Compton. Intended as a retreat from the pollution in London during the winter months, the Watts’s increasingly escaped here and their estate grew over the years. Ernest George designed the house in the Arts and Crafts style, with Mary decorating the ceilings and fireplaces. Many of their friends visited this centre of artistic creativity.

Watts Gallery

Watts Chapel

Limnerslease

Watts Gallery, Watts Cemetery Chapel, Limnerslease Compton Pottery, G.F. Watts and Mary Watts

Compton PotteryThe Compton pottery was established on the estate in 1899 and operated until 1956. Mary Watts began with weekly terracotta-modelling classes, training local villagers to make chapel decorations using the estate’s clay deposits. With the early support of the Home Arts and Industries Association this developed into The Potters’ Arts Guild in 1904. The pottery eventually employed up to seventeen men and produced large terracotta garden pots, assorted garden statuary and small coloured ornamental ware. The original pottery, kiln and pugmill still survive on the estate.

George Frederic Watts, OM, RA (1817-1904)George Frederic Watts was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the greatest artists of the Victorian age. A portraitist, sculptor, landscapist and symbolist he expressed important ideas of the time. Watts trained at the Royal Academy Schools, exhibiting his first painting in 1837. He was the first living artist to have a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He often travelled to Italy and was influenced by the great masters throughout his life. Watts intended his art to be beautiful, to have a strong social message and be accessible by the public.

Mary Seton Watts (1849-1938)Mary Seton Tytler became Watts’s second wife in 1886. Artistically educated she was interested in reviving traditional crafts and became involved in the Home and Arts Industries Association, teaching clay modelling to London factory workers. In 1891 the couple moved to Limnerslease in Compton, Surrey, where Mary became happier and more artistically prolific. Three years later she began designs for a cemetery chapel for Compton and involved Compton villagers in making terracotta exterior decorations. She wrote a book, “The Word in the Pattern” which explains the symbolist decoration. This unique chapel, Mary’s greatest achievement, was completed in 1904. The Compton Pottery continued operating as a local business until 1956.

Compton Pottery

Mary Seton Watts

G.F. Watts

Livanos GalleryThis has always been the main entrance to the gallery and is decorated with the original crimson, hand-made, linen wallpaper produced by the Tynecastle company in the Venetian Design. The paintings show the variety in Watts’s work over sixty years.

Richard Jefferies GalleryFormerly called the Sunken Gallery it is now renamed after a former curator. This gallery places G.F. Watts and Mary Seton Watts into the context of their friends, family and patrons. The central glass case exhibits personal items, such as Watts’ brushes, palette and sketch books.

Weston GalleryThis is part of the original C-shaped gallery built in 1904 and originally, 105 paintings hung here. It now displays paintings from the artist’s transitional period in the 1840’s from a painter of grand history paintings to a painter of social realism.

Watts Gallery Teacher’s Guide

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See Teachers Notes on:-

1. Irish Famine, 1850

2. Found Drowned, 1848-50


1. Miss Virginia Dalrymple, 1871-2

2. Constantine Ionides and his Wife,1842

3. Self Portrait in Middle Age,1879

Watts Gallery Plan

1. Livanos Gallery2. Richard Jefferies Gallery3. Weston Gallery4. Graham Robertson5. Sculpture Gallery6. Isabel Goldsmith Patino Gallery

Sculpture Gallery

Artist inResidence’sStudio

Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery

Isabel GoldsmithPatino Gallery

WestonGallery

RichardJefferiesGallery

LivanosGallery

Graham RobertsonGallery

John GeorgeStudy Room

FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

Sculpture Gallery


Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery


WestonGallery


LivanosGallery



FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

Sculpture Gallery


Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery


WestonGallery


LivanosGallery



FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

Sculpture Gallery


Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery


WestonGallery


LivanosGallery



FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

Sculpture Gallery


Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery


WestonGallery


LivanosGallery



FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

Sculpture Gallery


Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery


WestonGallery


LivanosGallery



FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

Sculpture Gallery


Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery


WestonGallery


LivanosGallery



FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

Sculpture Gallery


Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery


WestonGallery


LivanosGallery



FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

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4

6

5

Sculpture Gallery


Exhibition Gallery

Showcase Gallery


WestonGallery


LivanosGallery



FoyleLearningStudio

SeminarRoom

DISABLED ACCESS

BY APPOINTMENT

NO PUBLIC ACCESS

UNISEX TOILETS

Watts Gallery Plan

2

1 2

Graham-Robertson GalleryFormerly the end of the original C-shaped, this now exhibits examples of Watts’s Hall of Fame. These patriotic portraits record the great of his day for posterity. Also in this gallery are Watts’s paintings for a grand House of Life scheme inspired by Michelangelo, but never completed.


Isobel Goldsmith Patino Gallery This extension to the original gallery was added by Mary after Watts’s death in 1904.It displays his greatest masterpieces and the scope of a lifetime of work.


1. After the Deluge, also known as the Forty First Day, 1885-1886

2. Self Portrait aged 17, 1834

3. Time, Death and Judgement, 1870’s-1896

Sculpture Gallery This gallery displays two full-scale models from which bronze casts were made. Watts only turned seriously to sculpture when he was older. The small sculpture cases have examples of sculptural objects from his studio, illustrating how an artist used sculpture.

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1. Monument to Lord Tennyson, 1898

2. Physical Energy, 1870-1904

1 2 3 4 5

1. Eve Tempted, c.1868

2. Eve Repentant, 1868

3. Florence Nightingale, 1820-1910

4. The Dean’s Daughter, 1880

5. Sophia Dalrymple and Sara Prinsep, 1856

Discussion Points• Whydoesanartistpainthimself?Isitself-advertisement?• HowdoyouthinkthatWattsmanagedtopainthimself?• Doyouthinkthisisatruelikenessorhastheartistflatteredhimself?• WhatpropsorcluestohisartisticprofessioncouldWattshaveincluded?• Wasthisintendedasaprivateorpublicimage?• Whydoyouthinkitwasleftunfinished?

Activities• Usingamirrororaphotograph,makealife-sizedrawingofyourself.• Decoratethebackgroundofyourself-portraitwithsymbolsthatmeansomething to you.• Thinkabouthowyouwouldliketobeportrayedinyourself-portrait,consideryour expression, type of clothing and props. Then take these to a photo-booth or use a digital camera or mobile phone and pose for your self-portrait, full-face and in profile.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Self-Portrait, 1845, Private CollectionG.F. Watts, Self-Portrait, 1879, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, Self-Portrait, c.1879, National Portrait GalleryG.F. Watts, Portrait of the Painter, 1904, Watts Gallery

George Frederic Watts OM RA (1817-1904)

Self-Portrait aged 171834, oil on canvas

Key Facts

Watts painted this self-portrait, aged 17, in 1834, so it belongs to the pre-Victorian era. Watts looks out at us, portraying himself as a Romantic artist with a loose fitting open collar, and long hair, indicating a Bohemian. A patch of blue sky opens up behind him, suggesting his future as a successful artist. Watts left the portrait unfinished as if it is a working study. Considering his youth he appears confident and at ease. Watts painted self-portraits throughout his career, to promote his self-image, practice technique and create the particular vision of himself that he wanted the public to see.

Discussion Points• WhyisWattspaintedinfrontofaheavilydrapedcurtain?Whateffectisachieved?• Whoelsewearshatslikethis?• WhateffectdoestheposehaveonourunderstandingofWatts?

Activities• Decidewhattypeofhatyouwouldweartohaveyourportraitpainted.Whatdoesyour hatsayaboutyou?• LikeWatts,experimentwithunusualposesforaportraitinvolvingcostumeandprops to tell us more about the person and what they like.

Find Out More:Titian, Self Portrait, 1566, Prado, MadridG.F. Watts, Portrait of the Painter, 1904, Watts Gallery


Self-Portrait of G.F. Watts in Middle Age 1879, oil on canvas

Key Facts

Watts was sixty-two when he painted this full profile self-portrait,requestedbythefamousUffiziGalleryinItaly.He wears a skull cap in tribute to the great Venetian artist Titian. Watts presented himself as the great modern master, serious, contemplative and spiritual with his eyes cast downward. He achieved this pose by painting from a photograph instead of the mirror. Watts loved Italy and its classical past using the title ‘Signor’ given him by his friend Sophia Dalrymple. Watts painted self-portraits throughout his career, to promote his self-image, practice technique and create the particular vision of himself that he wanted the public to see.

Discussion Points• DiscusshowWatts’sposehighlightsLillie’sbeauty.• Lillie’sbrotherhadrecentlydiedsoshewearsblackoutdoorclothesinmourning.Is thissomethingthatwestilldo?• Lillie’shatoriginallyhadabird’sfeatherdecorationwhichWattsremovedbecausehe had great sympathy for bird life. Discuss the use of feathers and fur in fashion.

Activities• Lillie’srealnamewasEmilieLeBretonbutshewasbetterknownbyhernickname. Like Lillie, choose a nickname that describes your looks and where you come from.• Lilliewassobeautifulapoemwaswrittenabouther.Writeapoemaboutapersonyou admire.

Find Out More:Lillie Langtry, Photograph, Watts Gallery Archive, The Rob Dickins Collection


The Dean’s Daughter 1880, oil on canvas

Key Facts

One of Watts’s best-known portraits, this half-length and full profile portrait is of Emilie Le Breton (1853-1929), know as Lillie Langtry, after her marriage to Edward Langtry in 1874. She is the daughter of the Dean of Jersey, hence the title of this painting. Lillie was a celebrity of her day and the first ‘professional beauty’, acquiring the name Lillie due to the whiteness of her skin and with reference to the native flower of her Channel-Island home. Lillie was a sensation in London and posed for many famous artists such as Millais and Burne-Jones. She was a trend-setter and her knotted bun hairstyle became known as the ‘Langtry knot’. Watts invited Lillie to sit for this portrait for his own collection when she was at the height of her fame. She is wearing outdoor clothing and her bonnet was festooned with an ostrich feather, which Watts removed as he didn’t believe that animals should be used for fashion.

Discussion Points• Whymightthisportraithaveremainedunfinished?• Theworkwasbeguninagrey/greenundercolour.Ifhehadfinishedtheworkdoyou thinkthatWattswouldhavepaintedoverthecolourorwasthistoneintended?• ComparethisportraittoFlorenceNightingale’sphotographsintheWattscollection. Whatdifferencesarethere?• WhywasshecalledtheLadyoftheLamp?

Activities• Paintaportraitofsomeoneandleaveitunfinished.• FindoutwhatconditionswerelikeinthehospitalwhereFlorencefirstworkedin the Crimea.• ResearchthechangesFlorencebroughttonursing• Florencewassofamousasongwaswrittenabouther.Composeasongabout somebody famous.

Find Out More:Mayall, Florence Nightingale, Photograph, Watts Gallery


Florence Nightingale1868, oil on canvas

Key Facts

This unfinished portrait of Florence Nightingale is one of only two images of women intended for Watts’s ‘Hall of Fame’, a series of portraits celebrating the deeds of great Victorian individuals. Florence, named after the Italian city where she was born, dedicated her life to nursing and women’s rights. She reformed the Army Medical Services at a time, when girls were given little education and not expected to work. In 1854 she was called by the Secretary of State at War to go to the Crimea with a party of nurses, where she became known as ‘Lady of the Lamp.’ Here she fell ill with ‘typhus’ which affected her for the rest of her life. Produced during a bout of this illness, the portrait conveys thoughtfulness, determination and deep social conscience.

Discussion Points• LookforthegreendresswornbyVirginiaDalrympleonthemodelbesidethepainting. Isthisdressmadebyhandorbymachine?• Whatdoyounoticeaboutthesizeofthedress?HowdidVirginiamakeherwaistso small?• Whatseasonofyearisthegardenpaintedin?WhatideaisWattssuggestingabout thepassingoftime?• WhatdoesVirginiaholdinherhand?Whatdoesthisrepresent?

Activities• Dressinacolourthatrepresentssomethingimportanttoyouorhasmeaningand have your portrait drawn or photo taken.• Addabackgroundtotheportraitthathasfurthersignificanceforyou.

Find Out More:D.G. Rossetti, The Day Dream, 1880, V&A Museum


Miss Virginia Dalrymple1871 - 1872, oil on canvas

Key Facts

This is a full-length portrait of Miss Virginia Julian Dalrymple, also known as, Mrs Francis Champneys, seated wearing a green dress in a three-quarter profile. It was painted as a gift for her wedding. She is posed, gazing at us, in the gardens of her home, Little Holland House. As the daughter of his friend Sophia, Watts knew Virginia all her life and frequently painted her. Virginia’s fashionable taste is revealed in her ‘modern’ green velvet, walking dress, with ruched epaulettes on the shoulders and trimmed sleeves. Coral jewellery adds colour and contrast. The portrait is unusually painted in intense green and set in a wild, shadowed, dark part of the garden, Virginia’s youth contrasting with the old tree.

Discussion Points• HowhasWattsmadeitclearthattheyaresisters?• WhydidWattsmakethisportraitfull-length?Wouldtheeffecthavebeendifferentin half-length?• Whatlifestyleissuggestedbythesisters’clothes?• WhydoesWattsplacethemontheirbalcony?

Activities• Findapaintingorphotographofawomanwearingconventionalfashionforthetime. Compare it with this painting to see the difference in the clothing.• Withafriend,poseforafull-lengthdoubleportraitdrawingorphotograph.Express your friendship using clothing, pose and props.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Lady Dalrymple, 1853, Watts Gallery


Sophia Dalrymple and Sara Prinsep1856, oil on canvas

Key Facts

This full-length double portrait is of the Pattle sisters, Sophia Dalyrmple and Sara Prinsep, who were brought up in France and India. In this portairt they are wearing aesthetic dress, worn corsets or crinolines, a style of dress that was unusual for the time, but was gaining popularity during the 1850s. Their boldly coloured robe-like dresses, hair in nets and exotic jewellery makes them different from their conventional English contemporaries. The sisters stand on the balcony of their house, Little Holland House, Kensington, where Watts also lived for many years. Sophia on the left wears a green dress, swathed in a bulky golden paisley shawl. Sara wears a red dress with a blue cape. Their classical pose, the style and scale of the work refers to Watts’ recent visit to Italy and his interest in fresco painting. Sophia gave him the name ‘Signor’ and Sara said of Watts, ‘He came to stay three days; he stayed thirty years.’

Discussion Points• DidWattssympathisewiththewoman’scircumstances?Whatsuggeststhis?• WhatmightWattshavefeltaboutpovertyandsufferingincitiesatthistime?• Whatgiveshopeinthepainting?• DoyouthinkWattswitnessedthisscene?Howdidheknowaboutit?

Activities• InWatts’day,newspaperarticlesreportedsuicides.Chooseyourownnewspaper headline and, like Watts, recreate the event in a drawing or painting.• Themodelinthepaintingplaysoutarolefromreallife.Haveyourownmodelsdothe same with your headline story.• Discusssomeappropriatetitles.LikeWatts,giveyourworkatitleusinglegal vocabulary.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Under a Dry Arch, 1848-50, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, The Irish Famine, 1848-50 Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, The Seamstress, 1849-50, Watts Gallery


Found Drowned1848 - 1850, oil on canvas

Key Facts

Watts painted this dramatic composition of an unknown drowned woman, her feet still in the water, lying on the bank of the River Thames. Its title is a legal term used in a coroner’s inquest. She clasps a chain and heart shaped locket suggesting a tragic suicide and its cause, while her plain clothes convey poverty. Set under Waterloo Bridge, well known for illegal suicides at this time, emotion is emphasised by the woman’s outstretched pose and her illuminated face. In the distance, is the vague outline of the heavy industrialised south bank, opposite Hungerford Bridge, expressing Watts’s revulsion at the resulting social dislocation and despair. A radical painting for its time, it belongs to a group of four Social Realist paintings.

Discussion Points• HowisourconcentrationfocusedonthesufferingoftheIrishfamily?Doesthe backgroundhelpexpressthis?• Howareimagery,facialexpressionandposeusedtoexpressfeelings?• HowdoesWattshelpustounderstandthatitwasnotjustthisfamilythatwere suffering,butmanyIrishpeople?

Activities• Usingnewspapercoverageofarecentdisaster,createamodernfamilygroupbased on this Watts painting either using photography or drawing.• WorkoutwhatthepeopleinWatts’paintingmightbesaying.Makespeechbubbles for each figure, or work in groups of three or four and write a mini play to perform.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Found Drowned, 1848-50 Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, Under a Dry Arch, 1848-50, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, The Seamstress, 1849-50, Watts Gallery


Irish Famine1850, oil on canvas

Key Facts

The painting shows a contemporary subject, a young Irish family evicted from their home during the 1840’s. The Irish Famine occurred when the potato crop failed several years in succession causing mass starvation, killing thousands of people. The couple huddles together for comfort amidst a desolate, barren landscape. The father looks out defiantly, fists clenched, showing his anger, while the figure to the right expresses despair. Watts only visited Ireland after the picture was painted, so used models for this painting. A radical painting for its time it belongs to a group of four Social Realist paintings, depicting his concern with increasing poverty, stimulated by reading newspaper and magazine reports at the time.

Discussion Points• Howdoesthispaintingmakeyoufeel?• DidWattspaintsomethinghehadseen?• Inthegallerylookcarefullyatthepainting.Canyouseetheweaveofthecanvas? Notice the thickness of the paint and how it has been applied to the surface of the canvas.• Hasheexaggeratedtheimageofthesunandifso,why?

Activities• Whatimagewouldyouchoosethatdescribesacataclysmiceventinthe21stcentury? Produceanartworkwhichotherartistsorimagesinfluenceyou?• Whatinformationwouldyouincludeonanexhibitionlabeltohelpotherpeople engagewiththispainting?• FindthepaintingcalledChaosinthegalleryandcomparethetwoworks.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Chaos, 1873-5, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, Progress, 1883-1904, Watts Gallery


After the Deluge, also known as The Forty First Day 1885 - 1886, oil on canvas

Key Facts

Watts’s vast empty landscape, dominated by a sunburst, is an experimental painting. It imaginatively represents the phenomena of the sun bursting through clouds that have hung over the earth for forty days in the biblical story of the Flood. The rain has stopped to reveal the earth covered by slowly receding water. In the story, only Noah and his family survive, but they are not seen here. The painting presents an image symbolising forgiveness, offering renewal and re-creation. Watts was one of the first artists to directly paint the sun and the effects of light as the main image of an artwork.

Discussion Points• Whatelementsinthepaintingcreatethehappyrelaxedmood?• Howdoweknowthatthefamilywasverywealthy?• Ionidesisdressedinaconventionalsuit.Whyarehisboysdressedinnative costumes?• Canyouseesimilarskiesinthebackgroundofotherpaintingsinthegallery?

Activities• Makedetaileddrawingsofthebeautifulembroideryontheboys’costumes.• Chooseyourownfurnitureforagroupportrait.Dressthegroupincostume. Make a drawing or take a photograph.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Dr Demetrius-Alexander Zambaco, 1861, Watts Gallery


Constantine Ionides and his Wife1840 - 1841, oil on canvas

Key Facts

An early, but important family group portrait of the textile merchant and art collector Alexander Constantine Ionides, who was of Greek birth but had recently obtained British citizenship. The portrait hung in his family home in Tulse Hill, a south London rural suburb, frequently visited by the young Watts. Ionides commissioned the portrait in celebration of his growing status in London’s Greek community and of his ethnic origins. The informal and relaxed composition reflects Watts’s friendship. The boys wear exotic native costumes and the painting gives a glimpse into British multiculturalism, during the early 1840’s. Watts loved ancient Greek art and this modern Greek family connected him with the classical past. He later became painter to the Anglo-Greek community.

Discussion Points• WhatmooddoesEveappeartobein?• HowisEve’sweaknessexpressed?• Isthepaintingawarning?Ifso,aboutwhat?• Whattypeofanimalappearsatherfeet?Whatmightitrepresent?

Activities• WattsusesastrongdiagonalinthefigureofEvetosuggestherexcitement.Choose your own emotion and express this in a picture.• WattsdepictsoneoftheanimalsinTheGardenofEden.Whatotheranimalscould havelivedthere,realorimaginary?• InthispaintingWattsusesflowerstorepresentcorruption.Researchthehidden meanings of different flowers, for example the tulip or the lily.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Eve Repentant, 1868, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, Clytie, late 1860’s, Watts Gallery


Eve Tempted Begun around 1868, oil on canvas

Key Facts

The Story of Adam and Eve was a favourite of Watts. In this painting Eve, the first woman created by God in the Biblical story, succumbs to the serpent’s temptation and eats forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. As a result, the first humans were cursed and expelled from The Garden of Eden. The sensual figure of Eve, surrounded by opulent beauty, bends to smell the tempting scents of the colourful fruits and flowers. To Watts the garden represented the seduction and corruption of the material world, in dangerous opposition to the spiritual. The painting formed part of a planned cycle, which in the 1890s became known as The House of Life, exploring Watts fascination with the creation and evolution of the spirit of mankind. This is one of two paintings of Eve in the gallery.

Discussion Points• ComparethispaintingwiththeotherpaintingofEveinthegallery,Eve Tempted. Whatdifferencesdoyounoticeinthegardensandwhy?• HowdoesWattsexpressEve’ssadness?• HowdoeshesuggestEve’sshame?• Whatarethewhiteflowersandwhatdotheyrepresent?• HopeisafavouritethemeofWatts.Howisitrepresentedinthispainting?

Activities• Makealistofhumanemotions.Withoutusingfacialexpressions,actoutthese emotions using the body alone.• Forcenturiesflowershavebeenusedtoexpressemotion.Canyoufindoutas many of these meanings as possible, for example the hidden meanings given to the sunflower and to the rose.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Eve Tempted, 1868, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, Clytie, late 1860’s, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, Hope, 1885-6, Watts Gallery


Eve Repentent 1868, oil on canvas

Key Facts

The Story of Adam and Eve was a favourite of Watts. In this painting Eve, the first woman created by God in the Biblical story, has succumbed to the serpent’s temptation to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, resulting in a curse and expulsion from The Garden of Eden. This bears heavily upon her and she leans against the tree, her face hidden and taking refuge in nature. The painting formed part of a planned cycle which in the 1890s became known as The House of Life, exploring Watts’ fascination with the creation and evolution of the spirit of mankind. This is one of two paintings of Eve in the gallery.

Discussion Points• WhyisTimeportrayedasayouth?• DiscusshowthesunconnectswithTime?WhatdoesTimeholdinhishand?• DiscusshowthemoonconnectswithDeath.Whatdoesshecarryinherskirt?• WhydoesWattspaintTimeandDeathusingcontrastingtones?• Judgementcarriesapairofscalesandasword.Whatdotheserepresent?• WhatmakesthepaintingsosuitabletohanginahugechurchlikeSt.Paul’s?

Activities• LikeWatts,useagroupoffiguresholdingsymbolicobjectstorepresentanidea.• Watts’colossalfiguresarelikesculptures.Havemodelsdressincostumesandstand still like statues. Take a picture or draw your models.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Peace and Goodwill, 1887, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, Love and Death, c.1885-7, Tate Gallery


Time, Death and Judgement1870’s - 1896, oil on canvas

Key Facts

Watts painted this allegory, his most important and best known work, whilst pondering the big issues of life and death. Three versions of the painting exist. Watts gave this one to St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1897 and it is now on loan to Watts Gallery. The colossal figures fill the composition. Time, unconventionally youthful, with blind eyes oblivious to his surroundings and Death, beautifully passive, move towards us holding hands as if walking through life. Behind Time, the orange sun hangs to the right of Death, the cool moon. Judgement, in flaming robes of red, flies over them. Watts took many years to paint this work, initially only including Time and Death, and adding the thirdfiguremuchlater.Usingcoarsecanvas,thesurfacewas touched with white to create effects. Watts believed the imposing timelessness of this work made it suitable to decorate the nave of St. Paul’s, giving comfort to those experienced in loss and the homeless coming to the Cathedral for warmth and refuge.

Discussion Points• Doyouthinkthisisagoodchoiceofimagetosymboliseprogress?• Whydothethreefiguresbelowsymbolisenon-progress?• Whatotherthingsaregroupedinthrees?Whatmeaningsdotheyhave?• WhatdoesthepaintingtellusaboutWatts’sideasaboutmoneyandmaterialwealth?• Whatwordsbestdescribetheuseofpaintandcolours?• Watts’symbolswerepersonaltohimandhisbeliefs.Discusshowsymbolscan reinforce cultural identity.

Activities• Chooseyourownimageandcreateadesignthatrepresentsprogresstoday.Make a collage using different objects, shapes, animals, textures, colours, patterns and motifs to convey specific meanings. It can be 2-D, 3-D, relief or even take the form of time-based media such as film.• Symbolsareusedtocommunicateamessage,ideaormood.Forexample,ahalo in early Christian painting is easily understood. Find more symbols that represent different things through a library or the internet.

Find Out More:G.F. Watts, Physical Energy, 1870’s-1904, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, Mammon, 1885, Watts GalleryG.F. Watts, After the Deluge, 1885-91, Watts Gallery


Progress 1888 - 1904, oil on canvas

Key Facts

Watts’s symbol of progress is a young man drawing his bow, whilst riding a white charger through a sunburst. He chose a sport practiced in ancient times that aimed at physical and mental perfection. Below the rider and horse, three figures symbolise non-progress: a scholar reading by the light of a tiny candle, a rich man groveling for money, and a lazy man. The dynamic image of a horse and rider was a favourite of Watts.

Discussion Points• WhyisTennyson’sdogincluded?Whatwasitsname?• OriginallyTennysonheldsomethinginhishand?Whatmightthishavebeen?

Activities• ThestatuewasinspiredbyapoemwrittenbyTennyson.Findoutwhichpoem this was. • Drawaquickportrait,spendingnomorethan5minutesonthesketchthen,using clay or plasticine, create a 3-D portrait of someone using the clay.• Findapoemorwriteonethatremindsyouofsomeonethatyoulike.• Lookcarefullytofindevidenceofthematerialsusedtomakethemodel.Listallthe different materials that can be used to make sculptures.

Find Out More:Reduction by Thomas Wren after Watts, Tennyson, 1903, Bronze, Watts Gallery.Alfred Lord Tennyson, Photograph by Barraud, from the Rob Dickins Collection, Watts Gallery


Monument to Lord Tennyson 1898 - 1903, gesso grosso model

Key Facts

This memorial statue of the great poet Alfred Lord Tennyson was begun by Watts when he was in his eighties, having already painted his lifelong friend six times. Born in Lincolnshire, Tennyson began writing poetry at the age of eight, later becoming Poet Laureate in 1850. When Tennyson died, Watts created this statue, the first of his colossal public works. It now stands outside Lincoln Cathedral. Without payment, he began with this model of gesso grosso, a mixture of plaster, glue size and chopped hemp, which could be modelled when it was soft and carved when hard. He worked in his special sculpture barn, close to Limnerslease but died before the bronze was completed in1905

Discussion Points• Whyisthefigureraisinghisrighthandandwhatishelookingat?• Howtallisthismodel?• Doesitrepresentarealperson?Whowashe?Whyishenaked?• Whatisthehorsedoing?

Activities• FindanotherpaintingorsculptureinthegallerywhereWattsusesafigureon horseback and sketch it.• Inthegallerylookforothermodelsoffigures,suchasthemodelsbasedonthe Parthenon Frieze in the British Museum.• Lookcarefullytofindevidenceofthematerialsusedtomakethemodels.Listallthe different materials that can be used to make sculptures.• Finddifferentlytexturedmaterialsfromaroundyourschoolandrecordthembytaking photographs of the different surfaces or making texture rubbings.

Find Out More:The Parthenon marbles, British Museum, LondonReduction by Thomas Wren, after G.F. Watts, Physical Energy (Richard Jefferies Gallery)Second bronze of Physical Energy, 1914, Kensington Gardens, London


Physical Energy1870’s - 1904, gesso grosso model

Key Facts

Once safely established as a subject painter and portraitist Watts turned seriously to sculpture in his fifties. He wanted to create large public works to be displayed in easy to visit places. This full-scale equestrian model symbolises energy, continual motion and ambition, suspended in time. He never trained in sculpture, but took inspiration from the British Museum Parthenon marbles by Pheidias. Watts used gesso grosso, a mixture of plaster, glue size and chopped hemp, which could be modelled when it was soft, and carved when hard. Three full-size bronze casts exist in London, Cape Town and Harare.

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