Head of Death, studies for 'Time, Death and Judgement'

drawing height: 14 cm
drawing width: 15 cm
mount height: 28 cm
mount width: 34.5 cm

This is the Head of Death, part of the studies for 'Time, Death and Judgement' which includes four studies of the head of Death: (one sketch in pencil, two slight studies in brown ink and pencil and one detailed study of head and bust in brown ink and wash) on one sheet; an allegorical (symbolist) subject featuring a draped female figure. George Frederick Watts exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy, London, in 1865 as Design for a Larger Picture. He later executed a number of versions of the same subject, which was identified by Mrs. Watts as Time bearing a scythe and pressing forward through the stream of life hand in hand with his mate, Death. The figure of Judgment follows behind, holding a sword. In the last half of his career, Watts, a celebrated Romantic painter, favored allegories like Time, Death, and Judgment, which were influenced by his studies of the heroic forms of the Renaissance artist Michelangelo and the warm palette of Titian.

In her works published after the death of G.F. Watts Mary Watts provided information on the finished versions (COMWG2007.810, 1895) of these works.  Demonstrating the worldwide appeal of G.F. Watts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in the catalogue of paintings by G.F. Watts she notes five different versions of this work which were shown at galleries around the world including on the Royal Academy, New York, Stockholm, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Ottawa among other locations between 1865 and 1905 [1]. She also writes that Watts gifted a copy of this work to the Canadian government in 1886 based upon his belief that nations should possess “a serious expression in art” [2].  Watts also completed several additional studies for this work in media such as pencil, chalk, and in plaster.

When describing this finished work in 1903 Hugh Macmillan identified each of the three main figures and the manner in which Watts portrayed these which differ from other or more traditional representations. He wrote

Death assumes the form of a fair young woman of gigantic proportions, her cheek pale with sorrow, and her eyes fixed with deep tenderness upon the flowers she has gathered into her lap, and which are fading under her breath. By her side is Time, painted as no artist but Watts himself has shown him to us, no longer as the venerable, decrepit, conventional figure, with long, floating white hair and beard, leaning upon his scythe, but as a young man full of life and vigour, with proud, straight-forward gaze, and head covered with auburn hair wreathed with roses that prove his triumphant joy. Above the strange pair thus wonderfully associated by genius is the figure of Judgment floating in the air, arrayed in scarlet robes, the emblem of doom, bearing in his right hand the fiery sword of execution, and in the left the balance of eternal justice, in which human deeds and human character are weighed. His head is hidden by the outstretched hand that holds the balance, so that his face is not seen, and none may know the nature of the final sentence he has to pronounce, In the background of the picture the sun is setting in an ethereal sky, and the pale moon imparts its mystic light to the east It is a beautiful conception that represents Time as endowed with perpetual youth. It knows neither past nor future, but is a constant present. The gathered wisdom of old age, and the innocence of childhood alike belong to it. All conditions are comprehended by it, and it makes all experiences possible. Time makes no one old. The mere lapse of the years effects no change in us [3].

Here Macmillan notes the Symbolist approaches to these figures within this work as he has reinterpreted Time to be youthful, Judgment to be more ominous over the top of everything wearing scarlet robes and holding scales and a sword. Additionally, similar to these drawings, Death is not depicted as a robed figure with a scythe but rather as a young woman showing tenderness in her eyes and face and with flowers in her lap.

        Writing in 1901 Charles T. Bateman confirms this interpretation of Death. Like Macmillan he notes the differences between this depiction and the manner others have portrayed Death, but he also compares this work to other paintings by Watts. Quoting Watts himself he notes that Watts stated that we all must face Death and within this work as well as Love and Death (COMWG2007.317, 1871-1887) and Death Crowing Innocence (COMWG2007.824, 1887) Watts shows Death as tender and compassionate and treating others with forbearance [4]. Using Watts’s own words here Bateman confirms that Watts sought to represent Death in a different way.

        Later Watts scholars also point out the manner in which Watts depicts these forms. Staley points out that while Time is stony and unchanging, but not cruel, and working with Death [5]. He writes, “death, his inevitable mate, glides silently by his side, doing her work at unexpected, uncalculated moments” [6].  Although he does not note the compassionate side of Death as the others above, here he linked Time and Death as working together.

Tromans also notes how Death and Time are linked in this work as well as Watts’s approach to Death and offers an explanation for this depiction of Death. He wrote

Time and Death are partners, holding hands as they march forward together. Time is a young male athlete bearing a scythe, Death is a lovely woman gathering their harvestof flowers. The first idea for this female figure may be the study which appears on a sheet of drawings of Ellen Terry [G.F. Watts’s first wife] [7].

Like Staley, Tromans shows how Watts linked Time and Death together in this work.  However, he also notes how Watts shows these two figures outside of traditional depictions while also speculating that the face Death may be based on Watts’s first wife with whom he separated in 1865 after ten months of marriage.

Footnotes:

[1]    Mary Watts, Catalogue, pages 145-146.

[2]    Mary Watts, The Annals of an Artist’s Life, Volume 2, page 215.

[3]   Hugh Macmillan, The Life-work of George Frederick Watts, R.A., pages 236-237.

[4]   Charles T. Bateman, G.F. Watts, R.A., page 23.

[5]   Allen Staley, “29b Time, Death and Judgement c. 1865-86,” Victorian High Renaissance (ed. Richard Dorment, Gregory Hedburg, Leonee Ormond, Richard Ormand, and Allen Staley), page 88.

[6]   Allen Staley, “29b Time, Death and Judgement c. 1865-86,” Victorian High Renaissance (ed. Richard Dorment, Gregory Hedburg, Leonee Ormond, Richard Ormand, and Allen Staley), page 88.

[7]    Nicholas Tromans, The Art of G.F. Watts, page 63.

Text by Dr Ryan Nutting