Studio of British artist G F Watts open to the public in January 2016

LONDON Jan. 29 —— George Frederic Watts was a popular Victorian painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. Watts studio in Compton, Surrey will open to the public for the first time from the end of January 2016.

From January, visitors to Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village will be able to experience the restoration of G F Watts’s studio as the artist left it, one of the most dramatic spaces created by a nineteenth-century artist, to be open to the public with its original collection conserved and returned. Many of the artist’s most important paintings on display in neighbouring Watts Gallery were created in this space. 

A highlight will be the return of The Court of Death (c.1870–1902, Tate), Watts’s last major work, the epic resolution to a career that stretched back to the age of Turner and Constable in the 1830s, displayed upon a recreation of the original pulley system designed by the artist to allow him to work upon the vast canvas in its entirety. 

The studio of Mary Watts has been restored and remodelled to present key objects from the Mary Watts Collection. These include a highly decorative frieze, rescued from the Cambridge Military Hospital Chapel in Aldershot, and now conserved. 

The Compton Gallery will share the story of the Watts's in the village of Compton, from the commissioning of Limnerslease – now the last remaining artists’ house and studio by illustrious Arts and Crafts architect, Ernest George – to the foundation of Watts Gallery, the only purpose built art gallery in the UK dedicated to a single professional artist.

Perdita Hunt, Director of Watts Gallery Trust, said to People's Daily Online: “The opening of the Watts Studios is the next phase in completing the Artists’ Village in Compton. Watts Gallery, the Watts Chapel, the Pottery Buildings and now the Watts Studios offer a unique window upon the Arts and Crafts Movement and enable the Watts Gallery Trust to take a further step towards creating an internationally important centre where visitors and students can explore Victorian art, social history, craft and design.”

“We are grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund and to the Trusts, Foundations and many generous individuals who are enabling us to save this important part of our cultural heritage, and who share our vision of upholding this incredible legacy by establishing an Artists’ Village here in Compton.”