Miss May Prinsep

Painting height: 66 cm
Painting width: 53.3 cm
Frame height: 97.2 cm
Frame width: 84.5 cm

A masterclass in capturing youthful beauty using a reduced colour palette of whites and greys. As the niece of Thoby Prinsep and his wife Sara, Mary Emily ‘May’ Prinsep (1853–1931) lived at Little Holland House from a young age. Sitting for Watts when she was 14 years old, this portrait captures her youthful beauty whilst revealing little of her character. With subtle shades of pale white and grey in stark contrast with the dark background this work is an accomplished exercise in tonal harmony.

May was described as ‘beautiful and sweet-natured. Nothing ever seemed to ruffle her’ by Laura Troubridge, who stayed at Little Holland House with her younger sister Rachel while May also lived there [1].

Rather than using professional models for his work, Watts often turned to his cohabitants and guests of Little Holland House as his subjects. May came to live at the house of her aunt and uncle after her father, Thoby’s elder brother Charles died in 1864. However, it is believed that Watts had to seek permission from May’s aunt Sara before he could use her as a model. Only Watts, his pupil Valentine Prinsep and Sara’s sister the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron were granted permission to capture the young girl’s likeness.

This portrait is a masterclass in capturing youthful beauty whilst relying on a reduced palette of whites and greys. With her head turned in profile to her right, May’s complexion appears luminous and much brighter than the white dress that she is wearing. With the light radiating from the upper right corner of the picture, her neck, cheekbones, temple and nose are all highlighted. Grey tones were used to depict the body of the dress including the folds and the bow at her waist, which is heightened with black velvet piping and golden tie and buttons.

May was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1869 under the title A Portrait as Watts expressed a dislike for ‘fanciful names for such occasions’ [2]. However, in his letters to his patron Charles Rickards, Watts revealed that he continued to work on the portrait until as late as 1974. When enquiring as to when he should receive the portrait which he wished to purchase, Watts replied to Rickards stating ‘May, I will send almost immediately but there is something I wish very much to do to it’ [3]. Close inspection of the painting’s surface reveals that the positioning of the head and the styling of the hair may have been altered. The background around May’s forehead and nose appears lighter, as if the head has been repositioned and then repainted. This is also true of a visible line of thick paint, following the curve of her left ear which suggests it may have been positioned lower down.

Altering and adapting works after their completion was common to Watts’s practice. He is known to have altered the appearance of an earlier portrait of May, entitled Prayer which is now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery. Rickards who had purchased that work after it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1867, was told that before he would send it, Watts had returned to working ‘upon the face […] as I thought it looked a little brown in the exhibition […] I could not send it before the colour was quite dry’ [4]. During the 1870s Watts painted May again, presented under her married name of Mrs Andrew Hitchens in a full-length portrait, dressed in a long coat and hat, standing on a moorland. Entitled The Ulster, this portrait was also purchased by Rickards.

May remained a constant feature in Watt’s life. After her marriage to Andrew Hichens, the couple settled at Monkshatch, near Guildford which is a move that influenced Watts and his wife’s Mary’s decision to establish their home at Limnerslease nearby. In 1918, after the death of her husband, May went on to marry Lord Tennyson’s son, whom Watts had also painted during his youth.

Footnotes:

[1] Laura Troubridge, Memories and Reflections (London: London: Heinemann Ltd., 1925), p.21.

[2] Letter from G.F Watts to C.H. Rickards, 18 March 1869, Watts Correspondence, Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London, GFW/1/2.

[3] Letter from G.F. Watts to C.H. Rickards, 11 April 1974, Watts Correspondence, Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London, GFW/1/2.

[4] Letter from G.F. Watts to C.H. Rickards, 29 August 1867, Watts Correspondence, Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London, GFW/1/2.

Further Reading:

Wilfred Blunt, ‘England’s Michelangelo’: A biography of George Frederic Watts (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1975).

Marks Bills and Barbara Bryant, G.F. Watts: Victorian Visionary (New Haven and London: Yale University Press in association with Watts Gallery Compton, 2008).

Laura Troubridge, Memories and Reflections (London: London: Heinemann Ltd., 1925).

Watts Correspondence, Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London, GFW/1/2.

Mary Seton Watts, George Frederic Watts: Annals of an Artist’s Life, vol. II (London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1912).

Text by Dr Stacey Clapperton