Watts, George Frederick

1817

1903

George Frederick Watts was born in London, son of a piano maker. He wished to become a sculptor and was apprenticed at the age of ten to William Behnes. Eight years later he entered the Royal Academy Schools, but only remained for a short while and was effectively self-trained as a painter. He spent three years in Florence ‘absorbing’ Titian and Michelangelo. At the age of 33 Watts visited the home of Val Prinsep’s parents in Holland Park for a three-day visit, but remained with them for the next 30 years. Aged 46, he married Ellen Terry, then sixteen years old, but the marriage only lasted for a year. Ellen Terry posed for him constantly during this period. The Garrick Club’s (G0801) is a study for Ophelia, drawn from a photograph after Ellen Terry’s departure. Watts painted notable landscapes and later in his life executed large-scale sculpture. Watts re-married in 1886 and moved to Limnerlease, near Guildford, where he died.