Portrait of a man (recto) and sketch of three figures (verso)

Attributed to George Frederic Watts RA (1817 - 1904)

RA Collection: Art

On the recto is a portrait of a man looking to the right. Watts produced a small number of portraits of this type during his time in Italy and following his return to London in the early 1850s. This drawing is possibly a preparatory work for Watts's portrait of Sir George Bowyer, a lawyer and M.P.

On the verso is a drawing of two women carrying pails as they walk past a man sharpening a blade. Variations on these three figures feature in Watts's illustration and painting of 'The Building of the Ark' (Watts Gallery, also known as 'The Ark of Deliverance') on the right hand side of the composition.

In 'The Building of the Ark' the positions of these figures were altered so that the man faces to the left and the women are seen from the back, one of them looking over her shoulder. Watts originally worked on this composition in the early 1860s when preparing plates for the Dalziels' Illustrated Bible project, and this drawing probably dates from that period. Watts perhaps employed this uncharacteristic outline style and pen and ink technique because he was preparing agraphic work rather than a painting. The artist later returned to the same subject and painted it between 1880-90 (Watts Gallery).