FDA-P.162-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-P.162-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Sir Galahad
Comments
....this work began as the earliest of two large-scale versions of the subject by Watts but was left unfinished. Watts later returned to it, following the determined correspondence of Henry Elford Luxmoore, an Eton master, who sought to secure a version of Sir Galahad for the College. The work arrived at Eton in time for the ‘Fourth of June’ celebrations in 1897.
Sir Galahad was first hung unframed near the choir stalls of the Chapel, held by metal brackets over an area of the south wall decorated with deeply ribbed stonework. It remained without a frame for some ten years, until an impressive Renaissance-style frame was commissioned by Old Etonian Anglican (later Catholic) priest and writer Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) and given to the College. Benson used a frame maker located in Italy, who created a design based closely on the frame of a work by Venetian artist Paolo Veronese (1528-88): Madonna and Child with Saint Peter and a Female Saint (1555-60; Museo Civico di Palazzo Chiericati, Vicenza).
[See: Letter to A. C. Ainger from R. H. Benson, 3 June 1907 (Eton College Archives, ref: COLL B5 / 03)]
'the most note-worthy feature of this Fourth of June was the present by Mr. Watts to the School of a copy of his "Sir Galahad," which is now hung in Chapel: we hoped to be able to give an account worthy of the gift and our gratitude, but space unfortunately forces us to hold it over to next week, when we hope also to be able to reproduce a photograph of it.'
[Eton College Chronicle, No. 764, Thursday, June 10, 1897, p.365]
'MR. WATTS'S PICTURE. To the Editor of the Eton College Chronicle.
DEAR SIR, — I have seen the too flattering notice in the Eton College Chronicle, and feel I ought to acknowledge and return thanks for the very favourable reception of my picture; and I am encouraged to hope that whatever difference of opinion there may be with respect to the merits of the work, there will not be any with respect to
my object in the painting or the presentation.
Very truly yours, G. F. WATTS.
Limnerslease, Guildford, June 19.'
[Eton College Chronicle, No. 766, Tuesday, June 22, 1897, p.376]
'OUR gayest, brightest and most crowded Fourth of June has now passed by, but it has left us richer than it found us. The excitement might give way to fatigue and the noise to weariness, but Mr. Watts's picture is come to stay and to be our own...
The picture will be returned to him in the holidays for further work. "I wish," he says, "to make it one of my very best." The present position and arrangement is but temporary; it is possible something better may be settled on, but it is permissible to express a hope that no narrow though natural scruples may remove from a consecrated building an ornament so valuable, and a lesson that is at once so very beautiful and so deeply Christian.'
[Eton College Chronicle, No. 765, Thursday, June 17, 1897, pp.369-370]
Sir Galahad was first hung unframed near the choir stalls of the Chapel, held by metal brackets over an area of the south wall decorated with deeply ribbed stonework. It remained without a frame for some ten years, until an impressive Renaissance-style frame was commissioned by Old Etonian Anglican (later Catholic) priest and writer Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) and given to the College. Benson used a frame maker located in Italy, who created a design based closely on the frame of a work by Venetian artist Paolo Veronese (1528-88): Madonna and Child with Saint Peter and a Female Saint (1555-60; Museo Civico di Palazzo Chiericati, Vicenza).
[See: Letter to A. C. Ainger from R. H. Benson, 3 June 1907 (Eton College Archives, ref: COLL B5 / 03)]
'the most note-worthy feature of this Fourth of June was the present by Mr. Watts to the School of a copy of his "Sir Galahad," which is now hung in Chapel: we hoped to be able to give an account worthy of the gift and our gratitude, but space unfortunately forces us to hold it over to next week, when we hope also to be able to reproduce a photograph of it.'
[Eton College Chronicle, No. 764, Thursday, June 10, 1897, p.365]
'MR. WATTS'S PICTURE. To the Editor of the Eton College Chronicle.
DEAR SIR, — I have seen the too flattering notice in the Eton College Chronicle, and feel I ought to acknowledge and return thanks for the very favourable reception of my picture; and I am encouraged to hope that whatever difference of opinion there may be with respect to the merits of the work, there will not be any with respect to
my object in the painting or the presentation.
Very truly yours, G. F. WATTS.
Limnerslease, Guildford, June 19.'
[Eton College Chronicle, No. 766, Tuesday, June 22, 1897, p.376]
'OUR gayest, brightest and most crowded Fourth of June has now passed by, but it has left us richer than it found us. The excitement might give way to fatigue and the noise to weariness, but Mr. Watts's picture is come to stay and to be our own...
The picture will be returned to him in the holidays for further work. "I wish," he says, "to make it one of my very best." The present position and arrangement is but temporary; it is possible something better may be settled on, but it is permissible to express a hope that no narrow though natural scruples may remove from a consecrated building an ornament so valuable, and a lesson that is at once so very beautiful and so deeply Christian.'
[Eton College Chronicle, No. 765, Thursday, June 17, 1897, pp.369-370]
Other number
99
Description
Dimensions
height (sight size): 1970mm
width (sight size): 1050mm
height (frame): 2523mm
width (frame): 1609mm
depth (frame): 135mm
width (sight size): 1050mm
height (frame): 2523mm
width (frame): 1609mm
depth (frame): 135mm
Inscription
Label on frame, lower left: '99'
Materials & techniques note
Oil on canvas
Physical description
Artist's original carved, gilded oak frame with a channelled band on a pounced ground; carved with scrolling flowering and fruiting foliage, the incised slip with conforming decoration
Production
Person
Watts, George Frederic, 1817 - 1904 (Artist)
Date
1897
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Presented to Eton College by the artist in 1897, following a request by Eton Master H.E. Luxmoore
Exhibited: 'British Empire Exhibition' Wembley Park, London, 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925; 'The Legend of King Arthur: A Pre-Raphaelite Love Story, Falmouth Art Gallery, 17 June to 30 September 2023; 'Pre-Raphaelites: A Modern Renaissance', Musei di San Domenico, Forli, Italy, 23 February to 30 June 2024
Exhibited: 'British Empire Exhibition' Wembley Park, London, 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925; 'The Legend of King Arthur: A Pre-Raphaelite Love Story, Falmouth Art Gallery, 17 June to 30 September 2023; 'Pre-Raphaelites: A Modern Renaissance', Musei di San Domenico, Forli, Italy, 23 February to 30 June 2024
References
• Eton College Chronicle ( No. 764, Thursday, June 10, 1897, p.365; No. 765, Thursday, June 17, 1897, pp.369-37; No. 766, Tuesday, June 22, 1897, p.376)
