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. Jenny holds a phone and looks up at large sculpture of Tennyson
    Article

    A day in the life: Volunteer Steward

    20 April 2022
  2. Visitors walk through tall ceiling gallery full of large sculptures
    Article

    Curatorial team in conversation: Sculpture Gallery redisplay

    10 August 2022
  3. G F Watts stands underneath Physical Energy, dwarfed by its size.
    Article

    George Frederic Watts's sculptural techniques

    13 December 2017

Collection objects

  1. 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

  2. Nude sculpture in gallery
    Collection object

    George Frederic Watts, Aurora, undated

  3. Bronze bust of women
    Collection object

    George Frederic Watts, Clytie, 1865-69

  4. 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