G. F. Watts: Introduced in the Studio of Rossetti

"Lady Lilith" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

"A long time ago - so long ago it seems almost to belong to a previous existence - I was sitting one afternoon in Rossetti's studio watching him painting on the 'Lady Lilith.' My first master, not counting the schoolroom drawing master, was Ruskin, who was very kind to me.  He had advised me, if I could get the chance of studying with Mr. Arthur Hughes, to do so. This delightful artist, belonging to the pre-Raphaelite school, consented to take me as a pupil. As part of my art education he took me from time to time to Rossetti's studio.  On this particular afternoon the picture just completed, 'The Beloved,' was placed on an easel in the middle of the studio for a few friends to view. As I watched Rossetti painting on the 'Lady Lilith' and listened as he talked to me about art, I thought I had never before heard any voice of the same curiously beautiful deep-toned quality. I sat very happily watching his brush and listening to him.

The door opened, and a party, consisting of one man and a few ladies, came in to see the newly-finished picture. The man absorbed all my attention. Habited in a long sealskin coat he was small but in no wise insignificant - on the contrary, he was distinguished in appearance. His face was handsome, with a serious countenance suggesting a latent weariness and melancholy hidden under a crust of reserve. His words were few, but he gazed intently at the new picture. From something Rossetti had said when they entered the room I had realized that this quiet self-contained personality belonged to G. F. Watts.

I had only then seen on the walls of the Academy, his painting on panel called 'Choosing,' a picture which once seen is never forgotten. It was enough to single him apart from ordinary mortals. I was young, and art was my passion, so I felt greatly excited and interested in watching the perpetrator of this exquisite work. From the corner behind the canvas of the 'Lady Lilith,' I watched his party come and go."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "G.F. Watts: Reminiscences," 1906, by Mrs. Russell Barrington.)