Watts often expressed the emotive force of his figures through their pose or drapery rather than by facial expression. This is apparent in the large number of figures depicted from the side or the back in both his paintings and his drawings. This group of drawings in the Royal Academy collection gives some indication of the large number of Watts's figure studies and preparatory drawings which concentrate on the back.

Watts's choice of poses seems to be part of the same impulse as his habit of obscuring the facial features of figures in his allegorical paintings. Both are part of an effort to universalise his subjects rather than focusing on their individual traits. His sometimes unconventional poses also reveal his dislike for relying on generic compositional rules, or what he called 'picture making'.

Further reading:

Veronica Franklin Gould ed., The Vision of G F Watts, exhib. cat., The Watts Gallery, 2004, pp. 72-74

All objects in this group