George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) – IMS Photography

Little Red Riding Hood

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 19:18:00 +0000

This is Watts’s first treatment of the theme, an illustration to Perrault’s fairy tale. It was painted in 1864 and bought by Sir William Bowman, whose portrait Watts painted in the following year. Many years later, in 1890, Watts painted a full-length version of the subject (now in Birmingham City Art Gallery).

Provenance: Bequeathed by Mrs W.F.R. Weldon, 19379

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: George Frederic Watts (1817-1904)
Date: 1864

Image Details
Date: 27 March 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/33s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Image of an Ashmolean Museum asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900)

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Lord Armstrong wrote to his wife Margaret in 1878, saying that he had given three long sittings to Watts for his portrait, complaining that the artist had asked for another three. He had not then yet seen the portrait himself, except for a brief glance when the artist turned it round. His initial impression of the portrait when he saw it then was simply that it looked very brown, but he told Margaret that Watts was paying a great deal of attention to it and seemed satisfied with his progress.

Oil painting on canvas, Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900) by George Frederick Watts, OM, RA, (London 1817 – Compton 1904), 1878. A bust portrait of Sir William Armstrong as an elderly man, turned to the right, wearing a dark grey coat and a plum-coloured waistcoat.

Provenance: Presumably commissioned by Lord Armstrong and painted in 1878; thence by descent; transferred by HM Treasury to the National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by William Henry Cecil John Robin Watson-Armstrong, 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919-1987)

Marks and inscriptions: On a gilt tablet, suspended from the frame: 1ST LORD ARMSTRONG OF CRAGSIDE / (1810–1900) 1887 / George Frederick Watts O.M. R.A. / 1817–1904 On a square, gilt label on the frame, lower right: 1

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: George Frederic Watts (1817-1904)
Date: 1878

Image Details
Date: 20 June 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/33s
ISO: 320
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Harry George Vane, 4th Duke of Cleveland,

Ian Malpass-Scott — Sun, 12 May 2024 18:36:00 +0000

Watts completed this portrait of the Duke of Cleveland and exhibited it at the Royal Academy in 1873 (No.214).

He must have considered it a fine example of his work as he borrowed it again for the Exposition Universelle, Paris in 1878 and for his one-man retrospective show at the Grosvenor Gallery during the winter of 1881-2.

Harry George Vane was born in 1803, the third son of William Vane, 3rd Earl of Darlington. He entered the House of Commons in 1841 as member for South Durham and remained its MP until 1859. From that date, until he succeeded his brother as Duke of Cleveland in 1864, he was MP for Hastings.

Harry George Vane was installed Knight of the Garter in 1865 and is depicted in this portrait wearing the sash and star of the order. Lady St Helier described the Duke as:

A fine specimen of an English aristocrat and as he got older I think his picturesqueness increased. In the evening, when he wore the Ribbon of the Garter, standing up with his tall, erect figure, piercing eyes and snow-white hair, he was always a very striking personage.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: George Frederic Watts (1817-1904)
Date: 1873

Image Details
Date: 12 May 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 500
Licensing: Image of a Bowes Museum asset. This image cannot be licensed.