Person    | Male  Born 23/2/1817  Died 1/7/1904

G. F. Watts

Categories: Art, Sculpture

Born in London. His piano-making father named him after Handel.

Member of the Holland Park Circle, an informal group of 19th-century artists based in the Holland Park district, especially in Melbury Road and Holland Park Road. Other key members include: Frederic Leighton, Valentine Prinsep, Luke Fildes, Hamo Thornycroft and William Burges.

Married briefly to Ellen Terry, many years his junior. 1886 married Mary Tytler. Leading supporter of the campaign against the use of birds' plumage in fashionable hats, a campaign which led to the creation of the Society for the Protection of Birds. Watts had a gallery built near Guildford for his work, which he opened in 1903. It is open to the public and still displays just his work, which we found of questionable quality. Much more interesting is the chapel, a short walk away, built by his wife, Mary, 1898-1904, well worth a visit.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
G. F. Watts

Commemorated ati

PP - GFW

We can find no maker, nor date for the erection of this memorial, but its pos...

Read More

PP - Watts relief

This looks as if it's carved wood but Bonhams says it's probably painted cera...

Read More

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
G. F. Watts

Creations i

Lord Holland statue

Yet anonther lazy London statue - see Peabody for our log of all the seated s...

Read More

Physical Energy

{On a plaque laid into the ground in front of the statue:} George Frederic Wa...

Read More

PP - 3A - Griffin

Thomas Griffin, fitters labourer, April 12, 1899, in a boiler explosion at a ...

Read More

PP - 3B - Peart & Dean

The “fireman” on a steam train was the man who stoked the engine. You’ve seen...

Read More

PP - 3C - Rogers

The Stella was a passenger ferry in service with the London and South Western...

Read More

Other Subjects

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Born Dublin, of English parents. Died Madrid.

Person, Art, Ireland, Spain

2 memorials
Barber Beaumont

Barber Beaumont

Army officer, painter, philanthropist. Born John Thomas Barber and in 1812 for no known reason, he added the name of Beaumont. He specialised in historical and portrait miniatures, and displayed at...

Person, Armed Forces, Art, Commerce

3 memorials
Frank Mowbray Taubman

Frank Mowbray Taubman

Frank Mowbray Taubman was born on 13 June 1868 in Holloway, Middlesex (now Greater London), the second of the four children of Robert Taubman (1840-1905) and Fanny Taubman née Mountain (1845-1932)....

Person, Art, Poetry, Sculpture

1 memorial
Philip de Laszlo

Philip de Laszlo

Painter. Born Budapest.  In 1907 moved to London and stayed, though he often travelled for portrait commissions which included many royal families. His good relations with what became the enemy in...

Person, Art, Hungary

1 memorial
Sir Roland Penrose

Sir Roland Penrose

Surrealist artist, writer and exhibition organiser. Born at 44 Finchley Road.  Brought the first Picasso painting for display in London, in the 1936 London International Surrealist Exhibition which...

Person, Art

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Thomas Scriven

Thomas Scriven

Lay brother at London Charterhouse. Taken to Newgate Prison, chained and left to starve to death.

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial
Calvin Dawson

Calvin Dawson

United Kingdom citizen who died in the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. Calvin Dawson was born on 2 March 1955 and grew up with his mother, Idialia Dawson, in the British Virgin ...

Person, Tragedy, USA, Virgin Islands

1 memorial