The Watts Fresco

George Frederick Watts (1817-1904) was a very successful British painter and sculptor. He rose to prominence after winning a competition to design artwork in the Houses of Parliament.  The prize paid for a long visit to Italy, where Watts studied Italian fresco painting.  When he returned to London, he determined to start a school of fresco painting in England.

Watts was a good friend of Philip Hardwicke, the Hall’s architect, and was invited to the Great Hall of Lincoln’s Inn as it was nearing completion.  Noticing the large white plaster area Watts spotted an opportunity and offered to paint the Inn a fresco, for free. Of course, we accepted!

The picture is called Justice: A Hemicycle of Lawgivers. Watts began painting it in April 1854, but progress was slow due to his poor health, in fact the work wasn’t completed until October 1859.  Despite the time and trouble the fresco had taken to complete, members were very taken with the work and proposed that Watts ought to be recognised for the work.  It was agreed that should present him with five hundred sovereigns ‘in a handsome purse contained in a silver cup’.  In 1925 Watts’ widow gifted the cup back to the Inn and it is now one of the most impressive pieces of plate in the Inn’s silver collection.

Unfortunately for Watts, the work, despite its popularity, was not to launch a school of English fresco painting.  Unfortunately, the cold, damp English climate did not lend itself to the successful drying conditions found in the Mediterranean.