
In Tate Britain
Spotlights
Free- Artist
- George Frederic Watts 1817–1904
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 2222 × 1219 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by the artist 1897
- Reference
- N01641
Display caption
Of all the ‘symbolical’ paintings Watts donated to Tate, he said that ‘probably Love and Life best portrays [my] message to the age.’ Love is represented by the woman on the left, and Life by the winged figure. He described the painting as ‘frail and feeble human existence aided to ascend ... by Love with its wide wings of sympathy, charity, tenderness and human affection’. Watts further explained that the two figures are ‘unclothed for they are only symbols’. In 1893, Watts gave versions of the painting to the national collections in France and the United States.
Gallery label, June 2021
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Arthur Hacker The Annunciation
1892 -
George Frederic Watts Psyche
1880 -
George Frederic Watts Mammon
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George Frederic Watts The Dweller in the Innermost
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George Frederic Watts ‘For he had great possessions’
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George Frederic Watts Death Crowning Innocence
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George Frederic Watts Faith
c.1890–6 -
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George Frederic Watts Eve Tempted
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George Frederic Watts The All-Pervading
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George Frederic Watts Time, Death and Judgement
1900 -
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt The Temple of Love
date not known -
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt Love and the Pilgrim
1896–7