Neptune's Horses
George Frederic Watts (London 1817 - Compton 1904)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1886 - 1887
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1397 x 591 mm (55 x 23 1/4 in)
Order this imageCollection
Fenton House, London
NT 1449055
Caption
Watts became famous for his allegorical works, such as this painting in which the untamed horses are symbolic of the wild sea. Watts was widely considered to be the greatest painter of the Victorian age, enjoying an unparalleled reputation which earned him the title ‘England’s Michelangelo’.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Neptune's Horses by George Frederick Watts, OM, RA, (London 1817 - Compton 1904), 1886-7. A long narrow painting, of dark sky with sea, the waves in the foreground as horses' heads.
Provenance
George Baillie-Hamilton, Lord Binning and Lady Binning by 1894; probably bequeathed by Lord Binning to Major-General Lord Rankborough, January 1917, by whom presented to the British Red Cross sale, Christie's 24 March 1917 lot 410; ?bought by Lady Binning; bequeathed by Katherine Salting, Lady Binning (1871 - 1952) to the National Trust as part of the contents of Fenton House, Hampstead
Credit line
Fenton House, Hampstead, The Binning Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
George Frederic Watts (London 1817 - Compton 1904), artist
Exhibition history
The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones & Watts Symbolism in Britain 1860-1910, Tate Britain, London, 1997 - 1998, no.61