Humanity in the Lap of Earth by George Frederic Watts RA (1817-1904). 1851-2. Oil and turpentine on plaster. H 115 x W 91 cm. Collection: Leighton House (on show at the 2025-26 exhibition, Women of Influence: The Pattle Sisters, at the Watts Gallery, Compton). Accession no. LH 0312, presented to Leighton House by Emilie Barrington, 1926. Image credit: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Culture Service, Leighton House. Reproduced here from image sheet accompanying the press release for Women of Influence: The Pattle Sisters exhibition at the Watts' Gallery, Compton (27 November 2025 - 4 May 2026). Caption material from Art UK; formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. [Click on the image to enlarge it, and mouse over the text for links.]
Dr. Gursimran Oberoi, co-curator of the exhibition, explains the importance of this fresco, which was commissioned by Sara (née Pattle) and Henry Prinsep of Little Holland House in Kensington, where it was "originally painted directly onto a wall," and "formed part of a wider scheme of allegorical works" — works that "mark Watts’s earliest foray into Symbolist ideas that would culminate in his internationally acclaimed House of Life series, painted from the 1880s until his death in 1904."
Related Material
- A Curator's Perspective on Women of Influence: The Pattle Sisters at the Watts Gallery, Compton, 27 November 2025 - 4 May 2026
Bibliography
Humanity in the Lap of Earth, George Frederick Watts (1817-1904). Art UK. Web. 12 December 2025.
Created 12 December 2025