George Frederic Watts RA
Born 23 February 1817
Died 1 July 1904
Active: 1835 - 1904
Country of birth and death: England
Painter, sculptor, engraver
Born in London. He was the son of George Watts (1775–1845), pianoforte maker and tuner. In 1827 Watts entered the studio of the sculptor William Behnes, who was a family friend and whose father was also a pianoforte maker. Watts took a break from formal training and earned money making portraits in coloured chalks and pencils and then entered the Royal Academy Schools on 30 April 1835. After completing his studies, Watts went on to establish an extraordinarily successful practice as a painter of portraits, murals and pictures he called ‘symbolical’ (i.e. poetic, non-narrative works). He married the actress Ellen Terry (1847–1928) when she was a week short of her seventeenth birthday in 1864. The marriage lasted less than a year, after which she returned to the stage. Watts' second marriage, to the artist Mary Seton Fraser-Tytler, took place over twenty years later.
Sculpture played an increasing role in Watts' practice from the 1860s both as an aid to composition and as an independent art form. Among the major works he produced were some tomb monuments: Thomas Cholmondely Owen, Condover church, Shropshire (1867); the Bishop of Lichfield, Lichfield Cathedral (1869); and William Kerr, eighth marquess of Lothian, Blickling church, Norfolk (1870). Watts also made several full length statues, including a seated statue of the first Lord Holland for Holland Park on which he collaborated with Joseph Edgar Boehm and a statue of Tennyson for Lincoln (1898-1903). His marble bust of Clytie was widely acclaimed and particularly influential when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1868 and later at the Guildhall. Watts transformed his equestrian figure of Hugh Lupus (1870-84), originally for the marquess of Westminster, into his best-known sculpture, 'Physical Energy'. A version of this formed part of the memorial to Cecil Rhodes in South Africa. Watts was working on the gesso model of 'Physical Energy' at his London studio in June 1904 when he developed his final illness. He died on 1 July.
From the 1880s Watts had been internationally successful. Indeed he was so well known that two days after his death his career was the focus of the sermon in St Paul's Cathedral. Watts' posthumous reputation continued to flourish in the decade after his death, aided by a series of memorial exhibitions and publications. Among these last was the three-volume 'George Frederic Watts: the annals of an artist's life' published by his wife, Mary Seton Watts in 1912.
Wealth at death: £87,179 16s. 5d.
Probate resworn
Probate date: 2 June 1905
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Locations
Built house at Limnerslease Compton Guildford England | View on map
1891 - 1904
Watts and his second wife, Mary Seton Watts (née Fraser-Tytler) commissioned this house from the Arts and Crafts architect Ernest George as their autumn and winter country residence. In 1902 Watts bought a further 3 acres in Compton, across the road from his house, with the intention of building a separate picture gallery. This opened in April 1904 as the Watts Gallery. Nearby Mary Seton Watts designed and built a mortuary chapel for the village (1895-1904) which is where G.F. Watts ashes were interred.
Studio located at Little Holland House Kensington London England | View on map
1851 (Circa) - 1875 (Circa)
and house
Studio located at New Little Holland House, 6 Melbury Road Holland Park London England | View on map
February 1876 - 1904
Watts commissioned the design for this house, studio and gallery for displaying his pictures from the architect C.R. Cockerell.
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Exhibition of Fair Women (International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London), 1908
'Clytie'
Exhibited at The Annual Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (Twenty-eighth London Exhibition), 1922
'Daphne'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1837 - 1904
Exhibited 53 times (45 times from 1851), about four works per year till 1881, then one or two per year thereafter. He primarily showed paintings but some sculptures exhibited, including 'Physical Energy' in 1904 (cat. no. 1842).
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1888 - 1927
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 6 times: 1888 (2 works), 1891 (2 works), 1896 (3 works), 1901 (1 work), 1902 (2 works) and 1927 (5 works)
Exhibited at Festival of Britain, London: Ten Decades, a Review of British Taste, 1851-1951, 1951
1951
Watts's 'Clytie' (representing the period 1871-1880) was lent by the Guildhall Art Gallery, and exhibited posthumously.
Institutional and Business Connections
Elected PRBSA Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
1887 - 1888
First listed in the RBSA exhibition catalogues as President Spring 1887; last listed as President in Autumn 1888.
Member of council Royal Academy of Arts
1869 - 1871
Served as a Member of the Council. See Royal Academy 'Annual Reports'.
Visitor at Royal Academy Schools
1869 - 1871
Listed as a visitor to the School of Painting. See Royal Academy 'Annual Reports'.
Personal and Professional Connections
Assistant was Louis Reid Deuchars
1895 (Circa) - 1900 (Circa)
Influenced Alec (Alexander) Miller
1898 (Circa)
Miller visited Watts studio when he first arrived in London, which made a great impression on him, especially the monumental statue 'Physical Energy'.
Nominator of Henry Hugh Armstead
22 August 1870
Pupils included Henry Poole
Seconder of (Joseph) Edgar Boehm
1870
For RA.
Studio assistant to William Behnes
Either assistant or pupil
Wife/husband/spouse of Mary Seton Watts
20 November 1886
Sources
A Catalogue of the Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures in the Exhibition of Fair Women arranged by the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers
1908
p.14, p.30, p.37.
Alec Miller, Guildsman and Sculptor in Chipping Campden
1998
p. 8
International Society press cuttings, from spring 1921
1921 (Circa)
Favourable review of 'Daphne' in 'The Sphere', 13/05/22.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Barbara Coffey Bryant, ‘Watts, George Frederic (1817–1904)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36781, accessed 6 May 2012]
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1866-1906
1906
See entries for 1870.
Royal Academy of Arts, Directory of Membership, from its Foundation in 1768 to 1995 including Honorary Members
1996
pp.125-126.
Royal Society of Artists, Birmingham. The Twenty-Second Spring Exhibition, 1887
1887
p. 2.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
13 January 1908.
Citing this record
'George Frederic Watts RA', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1203976025, accessed 28 Sep 2023]
