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George Watts
Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical works, such
as "Hope" and "Love and Life". These oil paintings were intended to
form part of an epic symbolic cycle called the 'House of Life', in
which the emotions and aspirations of life would all be represented
in a universal symbolic language.
In his late oil paintings, Watts's creative aspirations mutate into
mystical images such as The Sower of the Systems, in which Watts
seems to anticipate abstract art. This painting depicts God as a
barely visible shape in an energised pattern of stars and nebulae.
Some of Watts's other late works also seem to anticipate the
paintings of
Picasso's Blue
Period.
Watts was also admired as a portrait painter. His portraits were of
the most important men and women of the day, intended to form a
'House of Fame'. Many of these are now in the collection of the
National Portrait Gallery - 17 were donated in 1895, with more than
30 more added subsequently. In his portraits Watts sought to create
a tension between disciplined stability and the power of action. He
was also notable for emphasising the signs of strain and wear on
his sitter's faces. Sitters included Charles Dilke, Thomas Carlyle
and William Morris.
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