Lecture | Fame and Beauty in Victorian Society: Portraits by George Frederic Watts | Barbara Bryant

Fame and Beauty in Victorian Society: Portraits by George Frederic Watts

Dr Barbara Bryant

G. F. Watts, Alfred Tennyson, 1858, NGV

2014 Ursula Hoff Lecture in partnership with the Ursula Hoff Institute

In his own lifetime the reputation of English painter G.F. Watts (1817-1904) was international in its reach, thanks to exhibitions around the world from Europe to America.

From 1879 onward Watts’s work was regularly seen in Australia, prompting major acquisitions for growing museum collections, with the earliest occurring in 1888 here in Melbourne with a portrait of the British Poet Laureate, Alfred Tennyson, and a version of Love and Death.

Although noted for his poetic and symbolic allegories, Watts was perhaps best known as a portrait painter. His self-conscious exploration of the genre of portraiture resulted in innovatory images which broaden the boundaries of conventional portrait making.

This lecture will consider turning points in Watts’s prolific portrait output particularly his decision in the 1850s to paint the great individuals of his time, resulting in a group of works now called the “Hall of Fame”, as well as his pursuit of beauty in portrayals of women.

Dr Barbara Bryant is an art historian, writer, and consultant specializing in the work of G.F. Watts (1817-1904). She wrote the exhibition catalogue G.F. Watts Portraits: Fame and Beauty in Victorian Society (2004) and G.F. Watts Victorian Visionary: Highlights from the Watts Gallery Collection (co-editor and author, 2008). She was a major contributor to the exhibition The Age of Rossetti, Burne Jones and Watts: Symbolism in Britain 1860–1910 at Tate Britain in 1997.

Date: Monday 16 Jun 2020 6:15–7:30PM

Venue: Public Lecture Theatre, Old Arts Building, University of Melbourne, Parkville

 Free but registration recommended. Register here.