A Parasite

Painting height: 198.1 cm
Painting width: 106.7 cm
Frame height: 230.4 cm
Frame width: 139 cm

In the Victorian period it was believed that ivy drained the life from other plants and trees, and ultimately forced them to perish. Inspired by the view from a window at Limnerslease, Watts, aware of the parasitic connotations of ivy, used this composition as a social critique of the mercenary financiers and industrialists of the age, who amassed wealth by exploiting others.

In the catalogue Mary Watts completed of the works by G.F. Watts after his death she noted that this work showed at the Royal Academy in 1903 and in Bradford in 1904 while also describing this work by writing. “a study of a tree and ivy, made from a window at Limnerslease, to which Mr. Watts gave much time and very careful observation” [1].  While not directly interpreting this work, here Mary clearly notes that the work is based on a tree outside of a window at Limnerslease which is also seen in another work Watts produced in 1903- Green Summer (COMWG.47, 1903) [2].

However, when approaching this work with a Symbolist interpretation what appears to be a painting of a tree wrapped in ivy carries a much deeper meaning. Writing in the same years Watts produced this work (1903) Hugh Macmillan highlighted the ideas Watts portrayed in this work. When describing this work he wrote, “A tall, fresh tree-trunk is wreathed round with luxuriant ivy; and beside it, to point to the moral, is a dead tree, still standing, but bare and leafless, with withered trunk and broken branches, that had been gradually choked by the fatal embrace of the parasite” [3]. Here Macmillan notes that although this work may appear as a tranquil nature scene, it actually serves as a warning of how parasites kill their hosts.

Later scholars of Watts expand on this interpretation and underscore this interpretation. Authors such as Veronica Franklin Gould and Hilary Underwood note that in the nineteenth century people perceived ivy as a parasite which stole resources from its hosts [4]. Furthermore, this work is compared to other works by Watts such as Can These Bones Live (COMWG.15, 1897-1898), or Mammon (COMWG.49, 1885) in which Watts highlights the effects of greed by financiers and rentiers who amassed wealth without making a contribution to society and thereby damaged the nation [5]. Therefore, by highlighting ideas about Victorian society this work fits within the idea of Symbolism as it portrays an idea and also offers a critique of the society in which Watts lived.

Footnotes:

[1]    Mary Watts catalogue, page 116.

[2]    Veronica Franklin Gould and Hilary Underwood, “66. The Parasite,” The Vision of G.F. Watts (ed. Veronica Franklin Gould), page 72.

[3]   Hugh Macmillan, The Life-work of George Frederick Watts, R.A, page 288.

[4]   Hilary Underwood, “30 A Parasite,” Painting the Cosmos: Landscapes by G.F. Watts (ed. Allen Staley and Hilary Underwood), page 60.

[5]   Veronica Franklin Gould and Hilary Underwood, “66. The Parasite,” The Vision of G.F. Watts (ed. Veronica Franklin Gould), page 72 and Hilary Underwood, “30 A Parasite”, Painting the Cosmos: Landscapes by G.F. Watts (ed. Allen Staley and Hilary Underwood), page 60.

Text by Dr Ryan Nutting