In his Metamorphoses, the Roman poet Ovid tells of an ocean nymph named Clytie, who fell in love with the sun-god Apollo. When he deserted her, she was changed into a sunflower that turns its head to follow the sun on its daily course from east to west.

The bust of Clytie is life-size, evoking a strong physical presence. The muscle shape was taken from the Italian model Angelo Colorossi, reminiscent of how Michelangelo worked. The elongated and turned neck is a recurrent motif in George Frederic Watts’s work.

Clytie was the only sculptural subject exhibited during George's lifetime. He started work on the clay model in 1867 and the original marble carving was shown, unfinished, at the Royal Academy in 1868. It was enthusiastically reviewed by W M Rossetti and A C Swinburne. In 1894 Edmund Gosse hailed it retrospectively as the precursor of the New Sculpture movement. The significance and popularity of Clytie are clear in the considerable number of replicas made of the work, in a range of media.

This terracotta Clytie was made at the pottery that Mary Watts founded and ran. View this version of Clytie in the Sunken Garden outside Watts Gallery, near the Compton Pottery where it was made.

Clytie in the Sunken Garden is available to adopt

Each adoption membership lasts for five years.

Price: £2,500
Annual payment: £500
Monthly payment: £41.67

Contact the team

Email: rachael.gurney-o'neill@wattsgallery.org.uk
Phone: 01483 901809