George Frederic Watts
George Frederic Watts was an English artist who lived from 1817 to 1904. He is most remembered for his association with the Symbolism art movement. Through his art, Watts used grand themes and allegories as a way to speak on universal truths.
Watts was born in London in 1817. He was born on the birthday of the German composer, Handel, after whom he was named. Born into a poor family with a soon widowed father, Watts was raised religiously. His father gave him a thorough education on the early classics of literature. Watts started art lessons quite early, studying sculpture at just 10 years old. He spent a lot of time in the British Museum studying the Elgin Marbles, to which he accredited his early education. He attended the Royal Academy of Art in London and soon started work on portrait commissions for money.
Watts came to some money and notoriety in 1843, after winning an art design competition for the House of Parliament. This gave him the ability to travel abroad in pursuit of his art education. Watts spent some time in Italy broadening his horizons. He drew inspiration from studying the works of the Italian Renaissance masters, Michelangelo and Titian. In Italy, Watts continued to paint landscapes. Upon his return to England, Watt’s subject matter expanded to include large scale history paintings, the favored style of the day. He befriended other artists and stayed at his friends’ ‘Little Holland House’ that also served as an art salon. The artist, Lord Frederic Leighton, was a neighbor.
Watt’s career continued to flourish. Early on, he took on two students in his studio including the Pre-Raphaelite artist, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, taking them to Italy with him to continue their studies. In 1864, Watts married the English actress, Ellen Terry. Soon after, Watts joined Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Aesthetic movement, and his art evolved yet again, using rich colors and softer brushstrokes. Still, his association with the Aesthetics was only temporary and short-lived. Besides the beauty of life, Watts also sought to depict the chaos of life in his art. He was aspiring to speak on the universal truths of life and such as, the bad with the good.
After his second marriage in 1886, Watts and his wife, the Scottish potter, Mary Fraser Tytler, bought a house in Compton, Surrey. Close by, they opened the Watts Gallery where he displayed his paintings and sculptures. Near the end of his life, Watts donated many of his paintings to the Tate National Gallery in London. George Frederic Watts died in 1904 at the age of 87.
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