This International Friendship Day, Leighton House and Watts Gallery Artists' Village celebrate the long-standing friendship between Frederic Leighton (1830 – 1896) and George Frederic Watts (1817 – 1904).

Both prominent Victorian artists, Frederic Leighton (1830 – 1896) and George Frederic Watts (1817 – 1904) first met in London in 1855 where they became good friends, with Leighton describing him as a ‘most marvellous fellow’ in a letter to his mother. They remained friends and neighbours for over 40 years.

The Holland Park Circle

In the late 19th century, a unique group of Victorian studio-houses grew up around the Holland Park area, with a circle of leading artists, sculptors and architects building their homes on Holland Park Road and Melbury Road. Now known as the Holland Park Circle, amongst them were the studio-homes of Frederic Leighton and George Frederic Watts.

Watts was one of the first artists to settle in the Holland Park area, moving into Little Holland House with Sara and Thoby Prinsep in the 1850s. Watts’s stay was only meant to be temporary, but he ended up living with the family for around 20 years, establishing a studio in the house. It was here that Watts and Leighton probably first met, and it was Watts’s proximity at Little Holland House that encouraged Leighton to purchase the lease on the plot of land on Holland Park Road in 1864. As neighbours, the two would often call on each other using a gate that connected their gardens.

Today, Leighton House is the only Holland Park Circle studio-house open to the public. While Watts’ studio-house was sadly demolished in 1964 to make way for the present Melbury Road block of flats, his Limnerslease studio-home in Surrey, now Watts Gallery Artists’ Village, is open for visitors to explore.

Take The Limnerslease House Tour on Smartify

Watch Frederic Leighton and the Holland Park Circle on YouTube

Join a free Artists Houses Walking Tour

Emilie Barrington

Amongst the Holland Park Circle community lived Emilie Barrington (1841-1933). A friend to both artists, Barrington took the lease on the studio-house next door to Watts on Melbury Road and became Watts’s pupil, working with him in his studio.

She published a two-volume biography Life, Letters, and Works of Frederic Leighton in 1906 and her Reminiscences of G. F. Watts in 1905, recording her encounters with both artists and including many of their letters.

After Leighton's death in 1896, Emilie Barrington was instrumental in preserving and recording the importance of the Holland Park Circle artistic community. She played a key role in saving Leighton’s house and opening it as a museum.

Collections

At both Leighton House and Watts Gallery, the legacy of the friendship between Leighton and Watts can be found throughout the museums collections.

George Frederic Watts at Leighton House

At Leighton House, Watts’ Portrait of Frederic Leighton (1871) captures a sensitive, informal portrait given to Leighton by Watts, which he displayed prominently on the staircase of his home for the rest of his life and can still be found in the same location today.

A recent acquisition by the museum sees the return of Watts' Haystacks (Study on Brighton Downs) (1882) to the Leighton House Drawing Room, which Leighton used to showcase his collection of landscape paintings, including works by Corot and Constable. The work will form part of the museum’s exhibition Leighton and Landscape (16 November 2024 – 27 April 2025).

During his time living with the Prinsep family at Little Holland House, Watts decorated the interiors with a series of murals. The dining room featured a series of mainly female figures representing different civilisations, historical periods, and philosophical themes. In 1875 the house was demolished to make way for Melbury Road and the wall paintings were removed for safekeeping.

Today, following conservation of Watts wall paintings, the last known surviving section, Humanity in the Lap of the Earth (1851-2) hangs in the De Morgan Café at Leighton House. Shown alongside is another Watts wall painting, Chaos (1851-2), which may have been a preparatory work for a larger Chaos painting in the Tate collection.

Explore the Leighton House collections for more works by Watts.