Augusta, Lady Castletown

1843–1847

Friendship with Lord and Lady Holland

During his Italian stay Watts becomes close to the British ambassador Henry Fox, 4th Baron Holland, and his wife Augusta, visiting their homes, Casa Feroni and the Villa Careggi in Tuscany. For them he paints a portrait of Lady Holland, shown in 1848, and — after experimental studies in the medium — a fresco at the villa.

1843–1847

A long stay in Italy funded by the prize

The prize money pays for a long stay in Italy, which lasts until April 1847. There he begins to paint landscapes and is inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel.

1847

Second Parliament competition: “Alfred the Great”

While still in Italy, Watts enters a new Parliament competition with the picture “Alfred Inciting the Saxons to Prevent the Landing of the Danes by Encountering Them at Sea” — a patriotic subject treated with an eye to Phidias. The picture wins a first-class prize of £500; the government buys it and hangs it in one of the committee rooms of the House of Commons.

April 1847

Leaves Florence and stays in London

In April 1847 Watts leaves Florence for what was meant to be a brief return to London, but he ends up staying there.