Irish Famine

Painting height: 198.1 cm
Painting width: 180.3 cm
Frame height: 210 cm
Frame width: 229 cm

The Irish Famine lasted from 1845-1849. As a result of the repeated failure of the potato crop, starvation and disease became widespread resulting in millions of deaths, the eviction of many farmers from their homes and mass emigration. Although Watts had not been to Ireland, he was moved by the horror and sense of injustice that was reported in the press. Drawing upon news reports and illustrations, he created this desolate work.

Many scholars of both George and Mary Watts note their interest in social issues including political problems of their times. This painting is one of four works by G.F. Watts including Song of the Shirt (COMWG.128, 1850), Found Drowned, (COMWG.161, 184-1850) and Under the Dry Arch (COMWG.171), completed by Watts between 1848-1850 which address social issues of the period. In this painting G.F. Watts showcases and wants to bring awareness to his viewers of the Great Famine in Ireland which lasted from 1845 to 1852.  During this period approximately one million people died and over two million people emigrated from Ireland due to a number of issues which centred on the blight which infected the potato crop during this period.

In her writings about G.F. Watts after his death Mary Watts provided insights into this work which demonstrate how Watts’ works manifest these ideas. Mary noted that George possessed a strong interest in Ireland [1]. Furthermore, in the catalogue of his work she created after George’s death Mary stated that he changed the title from Irish Eviction to The Irish Famine and that he painted this work between 1849 and 1850 in the Charles Street studio [2]. Based on this information it is clear that Watts intended this work as social criticism.

Contemporaries and scholars of Watts noted the message Watts conveyed with this painting. Writing in 1903 in a biography of Watts Hugh MacMillan described this work by writing:

Watts has enabled us to realise the horrors of the Irish famine, when the potato crop failed, and thousands dies of actual starvation. He embodies the whole terrible story in a group of starving peasants painted to the very life [3]. 

In 1905 Mrs. Russell Barrington agreed with this analysis when she described this painting (and the other social works by Watts) by stating, “these embodied the real and deep sympathy Watts felt for human suffering” [4]. These two works written, respectively, the year before and the year after Watts’ death highlight how he intended this work to address contemporary social issues. 

Twenty-first century scholars also noticed how this work demonstrates these themes. In 2008 Mark Bills noted that Watts likely based this work on contemporary illustrations of Ireland and Irish peoples and ignored sentimental depictions in order to present the suffering in the figures and bleak landscape [5].  Although these three authors wrote over one hundred years apart they all point out ways that Watts sought to raise consciousness of one of the social issues of the day within this work.

Footnotes:

[1]    Mary Watts, The Annals of an Artist’s Life, Volume 1, page 109.

[2]    Mary Watts, Catalogue of the Works of G.F. Watts, page 78.

[3]   Hugh Macmillan, The Life-work of George Frederick Watts R.A., page 218

[4]   Mrs. Russell Barrington, G.F. Watts, Reminiscences, page 92.

[5]   Mark Bills, “16. Irish Famine,” G.F. Watts Victorian Visionary (ed. Mark Bills and Barbara Bryant), pages 118-121.

Text by Dr Ryan Nutting