Born in London on 23 February 1817, Watts was the eldest son of a pianoforte maker and tuner who encouraged his son's talent for drawing.
The Watts Story
George Frederic Watts OM, RA (1817 – 1904) was widely considered to be the greatest painter of the Victorian era. A portraitist, sculptor, landscape painter and symbolist, Watts's work embodied the most pressing themes and ideas of the time, earning him the title England's Michelangelo.
Mary Watts (née Fraser Tytler) (1849-1938) married G F Watts in 1886 beginning a strong artistic partnership. Mary Watts was a renowned designer in her own right, founder of the Compton Pottery (1900) and creator of Watts Chapel.
Mary Watts and Compton
In 1886, at the age of 69, Watts married the Scottish potter and designer Mary Seton Fraser-Tytler in Epsom, Surrey. They moved to Compton in 1891.
Watts's final works
During his last years, G F Watts turned to sculpture and other forms of public art, completing his most famous work, Physical Energy, in 1902.
