Study for the Figure of Diana in 'Apollo and Diana'

drawing height: 19.5 cm
drawing width: 24.5 cm
mount height: 50.5 cm
mount width: 40.5 cm

A preparatory work for the series of frescoes at 7 Carlton House Terrace, this watercolour on prepared linen shows Virginia Somers, nee Pattle, as the moon goddess Diana. Watts made several such paintings on canvas or linen as studies for his fresco cycles commissioned by Virginia and her husband. These allowed him to develop his colour palettes and overall balance, while also using pencil or chalk drawings on paper for finer details. In the finished fresco, Diana and her twin brother Apollo represent the moon and sun among the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Watts dreamed of producing a series of grand works known as the House of Life, which was overseen by two figures representing the cosmic forces of Attraction and Repulsion. As the twin goddess and god respectively of moon and sun, the hunt and the arts, and wilderness and civilisation, Diana and Apollo were the best representations of this among the Greek and Roman gods.

In preparation for the monumental fresco Apollo and Diana, Watts produced this painted study of the figure of Diana. Watts’ fresco cycle The Elements, at 7 Carlton House Terrace, was commissioned by Virginia, Countess Somers, for her London home. Although now the frescoes have been removed from the walls of 7 Carlton House Terrace, when they were completed they represented Watts’ first and ultimately fullest attempt at a unified cycle of work known as The House of Life [1]. The majority of the large paintings are at Malvern College, Worcester, while the central pair of Apollo and Diana, for which this study was produced, remained with the Crown Estate and is on long-term loan with the Watts Gallery—Artists’ Village.

Watts made several such painted studies, using watercolour and oils(COMWG.258.1, 1885-1886) on prepared linen (COMWG.258.2, 1885-1886); the Watts Gallery holds a long, narrow study for several of the scenes from the Elements cycle, a drapery study for Diana (COMWG2006.35, 1854-1855), and a pair of painted studies for his other decorative works at Bowood House, the country seat of the Marquess of Landsdowne. The present study appears to be extremely close to the finished work, although here Watts included a crescent moon on Diana’s headband to reinforce her status as the goddess of the moon. This was left off the finished work. The stars on the finished fresco’s drapery are left off here, but worked up fully in the accompanying drapery study on linen . The figure here was painted over an earlier, fainter sketch of a face.

The model for Diana was Watts’ patron, Virginia, one of the seven Pattle sisters who formed a large portion of his social, professional, and supporting network. She was the ‘great beauty’ of the family, and Watts formed an unrequited infatuation for her. However, Virginia married Charles Somers-Cocks in 1850, who then two years later became the 3^rd Earl Somers; ironically Charles had fallen in love with her after seeing Watts’ portrait of her [2]. There are numerous sketches of her in Watts’ sketchbooks from the 1850s; the Watts Gallery also several fine silverpoint or metal point drawings of her and a painted portrait of her ten years after her marriage. A detailed head study of Virginia for Diana was sold at Christies in 2019. Virginia also posed for the figure of Briseis in Watts’ fresco at Bowood of Achilles and Briseis (COMWG.94, 1858-1860) [3]. 

Footnotes:

[1] Nicholas Tromans, ‘“The Elements”: A Fresco Cycle by George Frederic Watts,’ in Tributes to Jean Michel Massing, ed. Mark Stocker and Phillip Lindley (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2016) pp. 312-3.

[2] Veronica Franklin Gould, G. F. Watts: the Last Great Victorian (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), p. 28.

[3] Janet Ross, The fourth generation; reminiscences by Janet Ross (London: Constable and company ltd, 1912) p. 49.

Text by Dr Melissa Gustin