Sculpture

Collections

Collection Information.

Black and white photo of artist G F Watts on scaffolding next to large statue of Lord Tennyson

George Frederic Watts on scaffolding, working on the model of Tennyson

Unknown photographer, Watts Gallery Trust

George Frederic Watts is perhaps best-known today as a painter - the 'portraitist to the Nation' and the creator of large pictures.

However, from the 1860s until his death in 1904, he dedicated substantial amounts of time to working on sculpture.

In 1907, Mary Watts, George's wife, commissioned an extension of our Historic Galleries to house and display George's sculptures.

The full-scale plaster models of George's most monumental projects, Physical Energy and Monument to Lord Tennyson, still dominate our Sculpture Gallery today.

The gallery also contains preparatory studies and anatomical models which were transferred from the artist's studios in London and Surrey after his death.

Collection stories

  1. A cast of two hands holding
    Article

    Moulding Men: An Artist’s Hands

    1 July 2022
  2. Six black abstract figures arranged in a circle
    Article

    Figure and Form: Sculpture Now at Watts Contemporary Gallery

    1 July 2022
  3. A collection of white classical sculptures are laid out round the edges of a large room with an arched round roof with white walls. The floor has brown and white tiling.
    Article

    Sculpture Spaces

    1 July 2022

Collection objects

  1. Collection object

    Halima Cassell, Bo Orb, 2023

  2. Statue of a man on a rearing horse seen through the galss doors of Watts Gallery
    Collection object

    George Frederic Watts, Physical Energy, early 1880s-1904

  3. Nude sculpture in gallery
    Collection object

    George Frederic Watts, Aurora, undated

  4. Bronze bust of women
    Collection object

    George Frederic Watts, Clytie, 1865-69

  5. Looking up at a plaster model of Tennyson, featuring a man and his dog
    Collection object

    George Frederic Watts, Model for the Monument to Lord Tennyson, undated