Found Drowned

Painting width: 213.4 cm
Painting height: 119.4 cm
Frame width: 227.4 cm
Frame height: 134.6 cm
Frame depth: 0.47 cm

This stark painting depicts a young woman who has committed suicide by jumping into the River Thames from Waterloo Bridge. The heart-shaped locket in her hand perhaps contains a portrait of the man who has abandoned her. In the Victorian period, the term ‘found drowned’ was used to avoid the stigma of suicide. With the outline of the newly constructed Hungerford Suspension Bridge looming on the horizon, Watts forces the viewer to recognise the significant social issues that this thriving, industrial city was otherwise failing to confront.

Along with Under the Dry Arch (COMWG.171, 1848-1850), Irish Famine (COMWG.132, 1848-1850), and Song of the Shirt (COMWG.128, 1850) this painting is one of four G.F. Watts completed between 1848-1850 focused on contemporary social issues. Like other works Inspired by the 1844 poem “The Bridge of Sighs” by Thomas Hood such as Found by Rosetti, Drowned! Drowned! by Solomon and Despair from the series Past and Present by Egg this painting highlights the issue of suicides in London in the mid nineteenth century.  In this work Watts provides the exact location of this scene as his viewers would have been able to identify this as Waterloo Bridge (which was associated with suicides at the time) on the Thames and see St. Paul’s Cathedral in the background.

        Descriptions of this work in the early twentieth century highlight this interpretation.  Mary Watts described this work as depicting “the wreck of a young girl’s life, with the dark arch of the bridge she had crossed from the seen to the unseen” [1]. Here Mary confirms the interpretation of this work that it represents a suicide.  Although he misidentifies this work as “Found Dead” in his 1903 biography of G.F. Watts Macmillan reinforces this interpretation.  He wrote

One cannot look without the profoundest pity upon the fair young girl, ‘fashioned so slenderly’ rushing madly from life’s history to participate herself into the dread mystery of death, in the dark waters of the Thames at Waterloo Bridge, with the palatial buildings of Westminster rising up under the star-lit sky to emphasise the contrast between her forlornness, and the abodes of luxury and the temples of law and religion near at hand – ‘near a whole city full, help there was none’ [2].

As with Mary Watts, here Macmillan highlights the sadness and pity this work evokes by seeing the woman washed up on the Thames and also contrasts her state with the rich city seen in the background. Macmillan also incorporated lines from Hood’s poem into this description furthering the connection between this painting and the poem.

More recent interpretations of this painting highlight not only the setting of this work, but also point out further details.  Both Bills and Tromans point out the locket in the left hand which may represent someone who betrayed or abandoned this woman [3]. Both also emphasize the pose of this woman, and link it to Christian symbolism. Tromans writes, “Watts’ figure looks like a Christian martyr, in fact, with her outstretched arms, like Christ himself” [4].  Bills also notes the pose of the figure while juxtaposing it against the background when wrote, “the location also provided Watts with the opportunity to express his revulsion at the industrialisation that had caused such social distress” [5]. Therefore, Bills suggests that not only does Watts use this work to showcase the problem of suicides by young women, but specifically highlights the location so he can emphasize the dehumanising nature of society.

Footnotes:

[1]    Mary Watts, The Annals of an Artist’s Life, Volume 1, page 126.

[2]    Hugh Macmillan, The Life-work of George Frederick Watts, R.A., page 217.

[3]   Nicholas Tromans, The Art of G.F. Watts, page 17, Mark Bills, “14. Found Drowned,” G.F. Watts Victorian Visionary (ed. Mark Bills and Barbara Bryant) page 114.

[4]   Nicholas Tromans, The Art of G.F. Watts, page 17.

[5]   Mark Bills, “14. Found Drowned,” G.F. Watts Victorian Visionary (ed. Mark Bills and Barbara Bryant), page 114.

Text by Dr Ryan Nutting