George Frederic Watts

Dorothy Tennant, Later Lady Stanley

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Not on display

Artist: George Frederic Watts 1817–1904
Medium: Oil paint on wood
Dimensions: Support: 635 × 533 mm
frame: 972 × 847 × 56 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by Henry Curtis in memory of Dorothy Tennant, Lady Stanley 1926
Reference: N04223

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The mild climate of the Isle of Wight attracted the delicate Watts, who moved there to a new house in Freshwater in 1873. His neighbours the Tennants had two daughters, and he became friendly with Dorothy (c1851-1926), who was an artist and pupil at the Slade School. Watts had portrayed many of his famous contemporaries, usually with a sober realism. In this more casual portrait he follows a renaissance design, with a pet squirrel looking like an emblem.

Dorothy Tennant subsequently married the explorer Stanley in 1890. Both were Welsh. Her second husband presented the portrait to the Tate Gallery.

Gallery label, August 2004

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