Summary
The Messenger, also known as 'The Message of Peace' and 'The Messenger of Death', is one of a series of compositions by Watts that engage with the theme of death ; others include 'Sic Transit' (1890-2) (Tate N01638), Time, Death, and Judgement (c.1889-1900) (Tate N01693), and The Court of Death (c.18780-1902) (Tate N01894). The Messenger was among those works that Watts presented to the Nation in 1897, and which are now held in the Tate collection. This work is the first of two large versions of the composition, the second of which is now in a private collection. A very large charcoal drawing of The Messenger is in the Watts Gallery, Compton. This drawing was left unfinished until 1904 when Watts, wishing to replace the Tate work with a 'reconsidered' version, began to paint over this sketch, but died before he could complete it. A small oil sketch in brown and grey monochrome, bearing the same date as the Tate version but simpler in design, is also at Compton. There is a further small drawing of the composition done in black and red chalk in the Lanigan Collection, Canada… (read more)
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