Double Sheet (D) recto: Aristides giving up his command. George Frederick Watts (1817−1904). Graphite and watercolor on wc paper. 175 x 212 mm (6 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches). Signed to the left of the image: "Correggio Early [?] / G FW"; below the image: "Aristides giving up his command." [Click on image to enlarge it.]

Double Sheet (D) verso: A Landscape. George Frederick Watts (1817−1904). c. 1844. Graphite and watercolor on wc paper. 175 x 212 mm (6 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches). [Click on image to enlarge it.]

Commentary by Paul Crowther

Around this time, Watts did many landscape studies in the vicinity of the Villa Medicea di Careggi. In a letter written from Italy to Mr. Ionides in 1845, he mentions that he wanted to do "Some patriotic subject, something that should carry a moral lesson, such as Aristides relinquishing his right to command to Mitiades" (quoted in Watts 77). This is, presumably a small initial idea for that projected work—though Watts never got round to painting a full version.

You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Crowther-Oblak Collection of Victorian Art and the National Gallery of Slovenia and the Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway (2) and link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

Bibliography

Crowther, Paul. Awakening Beauty: The Crowther-Oblak Collection of Victorian Art. Exhibition catalogue. Ljubljana: National Gallery of Slovenia; Galway: Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, 2014. No. 136.

Watts, Mary. George Frederick Watts. The Annals of an Artist’s Life. London: Macmillan and Co., 1912. Vol. 1.


Created 12 January 2015