Lot 27
  • 27

George Frederic Watts, O.M., R.A., 1817-1904

Estimate
1,500 - 2,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • George Frederic Watts, O.M., R.A.
  • PORTRAIT OF CHARLES COUZENS; THE ORATOR; A CONVERSATION; COMBAT
  • four, one bears an inscription on the reverse: Charles Cozens (sic)/ student friend of G F Watts/ said to be painted/ by G F Watts; another bears an inscription on the reverse: By G F. Watts/ very early
  • two oil on panel; two oil on canvas (one vignette)

Catalogue Note

Watts took a studio with his childhood friend Charles Couzens in 1849 at Charles Street in Mayfair. The house soon became a centre for artistic activity as Watts surrounded himself with his unfinished pictures or 'muffins' as he called them, and many of the most inspiring men of the day were guests at the studio. The Cosmopolitan Club was founded in 1850 at Charles Street and members included the artists William Holman Hunt and Richard Doyle, the critic John Ruskin, novelist of Tom Brown's Schooldays Thomas Hughes, James Spedding a leading authority of Francis Bacon and Tom Taylor the dramatist, who introduced Watts to his future wife Ellen Terry. The Ionides family were making demands upon Watts to paint replicas of his portraits of their family members, and Couzens obligingly undertook the majority of this work to which Watts added his finishing touches. Couzens reputation was largely based upon his work as a copyist, although his well-known portrait of Watts painted in 1849 (Watts Gallery, Compton) shows great skill and originality.