Watts. Julia Margaret Cameron, photographer (British, born India, 1815 - 1879) 1864 George Frederick Watts was born in London in 1817. In 1835 he entered the Royal Academy Schools and spent many hours studying the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. From 1843 to 1847 he studied painting in Florence while staying at the home of Lord Holland, the British minister to the court of Tuscany. When he returned to England, he was taken in as the permanent houseguest of Cameron’s sister Sara Prinsep (1816-1887) at Little Holland House, a rambling property obtained through the graces of Lord Hollan

Watts. Julia Margaret Cameron, photographer (British, born India, 1815 - 1879) 1864 George Frederick Watts was born in London in 1817. In 1835 he entered the Royal Academy Schools and spent many hours studying the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. From 1843 to 1847 he studied painting in Florence while staying at the home of Lord Holland, the British minister to the court of Tuscany. When he returned to England, he was taken in as the permanent houseguest of Cameron’s sister Sara Prinsep (1816-1887) at Little Holland House, a rambling property obtained through the graces of Lord Holland.> > From his studio at Little Holland House, Watts tirelessly corresponded with Julia Margaret Cameron on matters of art. His vision of creating a Victorian pantheon that could transcend the age was one he shared with her. He referred to his contemporary series of portraits as “The Hall of Fame” and in 1861 bequeathed over sixty works to the nation, depositing them in the newly opened National Portrait Gallery in London. The breadth and grandiosity of his vision was not lost on Cameron, who followed this approach with her didactic, bust-length portraits.> > Watts was sometimes moody and introspective in character, but Cameron was nonetheless very fond of him. This seated profile portrait of Watts reveals the combination of intimacy and admiration that marked their friendship. The carefully crumpled drapery in his sleeve is not an arbitrary feature of the picture, but rather an attempt on Cameron’s part to demonstrate that photography could achieve such painterly effects. Watts appeared in a number of her photographs. The J. Paul Getty Museum has five other works by Cameron in which he is featured. (see , , , , ). In turn, Cameron was also the subject of an 1852 painting by Watts (now at the National Portrait Gallery in London) that is documented in the Getty Collection by a photograph by Sir John Herschel. (see

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