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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LONDON, TUESDAY 16 JUNE – A newly discovered portrait by the great Victorian painter George Frederic Watts RA, descended directly through the artist’s family and never previously seen in public, will go under the hammer at Roseberys London this July. It is estimated to sell for between £6,000-£8,000.
Lot 368: George Frederic Watts, OM RA, British 1817-1904- Portrait of the artist's nephew Edward John as a young boy Estimate: £6,000 - £8,000
The work has remained in private hands for over 120 years and has passed by descent from the sitter to the present owner.
A later inscription to the reverse suggests that Edward John passed the painting on to his son, Herbert Charles Watts.
The sitter has been identified as Edward John Watts, the son of the artist’s half-brother Thomas Watts. In the 1851 census, Edward is recorded as a pianoforte maker, working alongside his father and younger brother. A later inscription to the reverse suggests that Edward John passed the painting on to his son, Herbert Charles Watts on his 21st birthday in 1907. Herbert Charles then gave the picture to his daughter, the mother of the present owner.
While Watts painted both his wives, close friends and prominent figures from his wider social circle, his early portraits also reflect more intimate family and commission networks.
Roseberys Head of Old Master, British & European Pictures Lara L’vov-Basirov believes the discovery may also help resolve a longstanding mystery around another early Watts portrait. An unfinished painting in the collection of Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village, known as Boy’s Head or Cornellius, appears to depict the same sitter at a slightly older age.
L’vov-Basirov notes the “remarkable similarities in the facial structure of the two sitters, from the slope of the nose, to the heart-shaped mouth, to the large round eyes.” Both boys are also shown in profile and wearing a similar ruff collar.
“As Watts had no biological children, portraits of family members are rare within his oeuvre. Watts’ works rarely appear at auction and this painting has remained outside the existing scholarship; it has never appeared in a catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work. The fact that it reveals a longstanding mystery about one of Watts’ portraits held by the Watts Gallery is particularly exciting.”
Lara L'vov-Basirov, Head of Old Master, British & European Pictures at Roseberys.
The attribution has been confirmed by Dr Nicholas Tromans, former curator at Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village in Surrey.
The attribution has been confirmed by Dr Nicholas Tromans, former curator at Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village in Surrey.
Dubbed “England’s Michelangelo”, Watts was one of the most significant British artists of the Victorian period. A painter, sculptor and designer, he was closely associated with Symbolism and the Romantic movement, producing allegorical, mythological and portrait subjects across a long career.
Watts Gallery was founded in Compton, Surrey by artists and social reformers George Frederic Watts and Mary Seton Watts, who made the village their home after commissioning Limnerslease in 1889. From this Surrey base, the couple developed an ambitious Arts and Crafts community encompassing their home and studios, Watts Cemetery Chapel, the Compton pottery and, in 1904, the first purpose-built gallery in the UK dedicated to a single professional artist.
The portrait will be exhibited publicly for the first time at Roseberys’ newly-opened Belgravia gallery on Friday 19th June.
See the Watts portrait on view at Roseberys Belgravia, 26 Pimlico Road, SW1W 8LJ: Friday 19 - Monday 29 June
Old Master, British & European Pictures auction: Wednesday 8 July
ENDS
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For media enquiries please contact: aliciaglenn@roseberys.co.uk
For media enquiries please contact: aliciaglenn@roseberys.co.uk
About Roseberys:
Founded more than three decades ago, Roseberys has built a reputation for bringing fresh-to-market works and distinctive collections to auction across a wide range of collecting categories.
In recent years, Roseberys has increasingly brought significant single-owner collections and interiors to market. These have included The George Farrow Collection, a wide-ranging group of more than 500 works spanning European sculpture, Chinese works of art and historic tapestries and The Collection of the Late Hugo Morley-Fletcher, the renowned Antiques Roadshow ceramics specialist, which brought together family portraits from Yester House alongside his personal holdings of European porcelain and glass.
Other recent sales drawn from historic interiors, including An English Country Home: Interiors by Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, have further reinforced the auction house’s position as a destination for collections shaped by a strong sense of place and provenance.
Recent Sales of Note:
- A sketch by John Constable descending through the artist’s family (£71,740)
- A pair of huanghuali chairs formerly owned by an advisor to Chairman Mao (£774,240)
- An Edwardian silver tea service once owned by Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton (£20,990)
- An Andy Warhol Superman print from the Myths series (£223,840)
- Two original illustrations for The Jungle Book, long believed lost (£93,840 & £36,640)
- A painting of Belsize Park by F.N. Souza (£299,240)
- A record price for a work on paper by Paule Vézelay (£22,304)
- One of only 25 deluxe editions of Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads (1886) by Peter Henry Emerson (£52,480)
- Art Deco diamond earrings (£71,740)
- A very rare 18ct white gold and diamond Cartier wristwatch (£130,000)
- A Hans Coper ceramic dish from the Bunny Rogers collection (44,440)