Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900)
George Frederic Watts (London 1817 - Compton 1904)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1878
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
655 x 525 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Cragside, Northumberland
NT 1230213
Caption
Lord Armstrong wrote to his wife Margaret in 1878, saying that he had given three long sittings to Watts for his portrait, complaining that the artist had asked for another three. He had not then yet seen the portrait himself, except for a brief glance when the artist turned it round. His initial impression of the portrait when he saw it then was simply that it looked very brown, but he told Margaret that Watts was paying a great deal of attention to it and seemed satisfied with his progress.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900) by George Frederick Watts, OM, RA, (London 1817 - Compton 1904), 1878. A bust portrait of Sir William Armstrong as an elderly man, turned to the right, wearing a dark grey coat and a plum-coloured waistcoat.
Provenance
Presumably commissioned by Lord Armstrong and painted in 1878; thence by descent; transferred by HM Treasury to the National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by William Henry Cecil John Robin Watson-Armstrong, 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919-1987)
Credit line
Cragside, The Armstrong Collection (acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to the National Trust in 1977)
Marks and inscriptions
On a gilt tablet, suspended from the frame: 1ST LORD ARMSTRONG OF CRAGSIDE / (1810–1900) 1887 / George Frederick Watts O.M. R.A. / 1817–1904 On a square, gilt label on the frame, lower right: 1
Makers and roles
George Frederic Watts (London 1817 - Compton 1904), artist
References
E. Rimbault Dibdin, ‘Lord Armstrong’s Collection of Modern Pictures. – II.’, The Magazine of Art, vol.126, April 1891, p.199