Thomas Carlyle by George Frederic Watts RA (1817-1904)

Thomas Carlyle

George Frederic Watts RA (1817-1904)

1885

Source: Hare

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The vigorous half-length portrait of Carlyle was despatched on 7 November. The sage sits with characteristically folded hands. His expression is defiantly thoughtful, he has a fine brow, alert eyes, hair a little unkempt, the lower lip protrudes below his trimmed moustache and above a jaunty collar, the hairs of his beard establish that jaw. Forster was satis- fied. Carlyle accused the artist of making him look like 'a mad labourer' and complained to his brother that this was 'decidedly the most insufferable picture that has yet been made of me, a delirious-looking mountebank full of violence, awkwardness, atrocity and stupidity.' Yet he conceded, The fault of Watts is a passionate pursuit of strength.' G. K. Chesterton, writing in 1904, pointed out that whereas Millais had simply represented a magnificent shaggy old man, The uglier Carlyle of Watts has more of the truth about him, the strange combination of a score of sane and healthy visions and views, with something that was not sane, which bloodshot and embittered them all, the great tragedy of the union of a strong countryside mind and body with a disease of the vitals and something like a disease of the spirit. In fact, Watts painted Carlyle "like a mad labourer", because Carlyle was a mad labourer.' Watts regarded this important commission a failure. [96]

Bibliography

Blunt, Wilfred. "England's Michaelangelo": A Biography of George Frederic Watts, Om., R.A. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1975.

Gould, Veronica Franklin. G. F. Watts: The Last Great Victorian. London: Yale University Press, 2004.

Hare, William Loftus. Watts (1817-1904). Full text at Project Gutenberg. [This appears to be a pamphlet in a series entitled Matsrepieces in Colour edited by T. Leman Hare. The Gutenberg text does not indicate place or date of publication.]

Last modified 18 July 2005