G.F. Watts: Sculpture

G.F. Watts working on "Physical Energy"

In early student days, before Watts went to Italy, he had become familiarized with the modern methods of sculpture while frequenting Behne's studio, where he drew from the antique casts of which he found there. As soon as the Elgin Marbles had been placed in the British Museum, Watts paid frequent visits to these matchless sculptures from his rooms in Charlotte Street. In this way he obtained his best training in the understanding of noble form from sculpture before he received his best inspirations from the paintings he saw while in Italy. But it was only after he returned from Italy that he began actually to work at sculpture. Whilst there he had seen great artwork in sculpture and painting from the masters Orgagna, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michaelangelo. 

In his sculptor's studio attached to the new Little Holland House, the conditions in which his work was carried on were delightful to him. His large works, like 'Physical Energy' were begun with a small model which was then cast.  Then his assistants would follow the proportions and build a strong full-size skeleton of wood and metal to support the weight of the final model. This armature would usually be hung with loops of wire and criss-cross pieces of wood to grip the modelling material better. A large photo in the Sculpture Gallery shows 'Physical Energy' in progress with its original wooden supports. Watts had the internal armature of the legs made with joints so he could change their position as his ideas evolved. 

Then with his team, he would model the final sculpture. Usually, Victorians modelled in clay, but this had to be kept damp with wet blankets while the sculpture was in progress to stop it drying and cracking. However any contact with damp, or even damp in the atmosphere, gave Watts rheumatism. In wet weather he could not work at all in his sculptor's studio. Happily, an Italian assistant, Fabbrucci, introduced him to Gesso Grosso which he used for his big sculptures. It was a mixture of chalk, glue and fibre, which can be allowed to dry out, then carved into or supplemented with more gesso. Using this instead of clay, his problem with rheumatism was overcome. These large sculptures, meant to be displayed outdoors, were mounted on trolleys and run out on rails into his garden, so that for the most part it was in the open air that he worked on them.

Two years before his death in 1902 when he was 85, the sculpture was cast in bronze. Watts gave the statue of 'Physical Energy' to the British government as a 'symbol of that restless impulse to seek the still unachieved in the domain of material things.' The government then had it erected as part of the Rhodes Memorial near Cape Town, South Africa. Other casts, both large and small, were made and put on display, fulfilling Watt's desire that his art would serve as an inspiration to the nation.

To be continued

(Excerpts from "G.F. Watts: Reminiscences," 1906, by Mrs. Russell Barrington; Wikipedia article on "Physical Energy (Sculpture)"; and from "George Frederic Watts' Sculptural Techniques" by Hilary Underwood.)