Not on display
- 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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