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The Watson Family of Artists
Who Do You Think You Are?
Readers Story July 2016
VICTORIAN LANDSCAPE PAINTERS BACKGROUND
The Victorian passion for landscape painting was a paradox, as it was fuelled by the industry that destroyed the British countryside. The market for landscape paintings was generated among the ranks of the nouveau riches, the newly wealthy middle class who liked to see themselves as patrons of the arts. Their money came from cotton, iron, coal and the myriad other industries that had been developed in the Industrial Revolution. These industries had turned Britain’s pastoral landscape into a dirty, mechanised one and small towns into overcrowded cities. Middle class people had largely been brought up in the country, before the exponential growth of the towns due to industrialisation and the coming of the railways. These paintings gave them a return to an idealised, pastoral childhood. Among the most successful landscape painters was the Scottish artist Joseph Farquharson, sometimes called ‘Frozen Mutton Farquharson’ because of his love of painting sheep in snowy landscapes. For Iain’s forebears to have a family business painting pictures was not at all unusual. Alfred de Breanski and his son, identically named, became famed for Scottish and Welsh landscapes. The most prolific were the Williams family of more than 15 artists. They were descendants of Edward Williams who was often called ‘Old Williams’ to distinguish him. Three of his sons changed their names so their work would not be confused. Among them was Henry John Williams who, unusually for the Victorians, adopted his wife Clara Boddington’s name on marriage. He painted landscapes in Wales, Scotland and Yorkshire.
Jad Adams is a writer and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
‘I’ve discovered generations of Victorian painters’
Iain Taylor was thrilled to find connections to successful fine artists on his grandson’s family tree. Their work sells for thousands in auctions today, as Gail Dixon discovers.
Queen Victoria fell in love with the people and scenery of the Scottish Highlands in the 1840s. Prince Albert purchased Balmoral estate for her and they commissioned artworks that reminded them of its rugged upland scenery and captivating wildlife. Sir Edwin Landseer’s iconic Monarch of the Glen, with a lonely stag standing on a misty hillside, encapsulated the romance of Victoria’s Scottish idyll.
Where the royals led, nobility and gentry followed, and this love affair with Scotland triggered an explosion in the popularity of artworks that idealised Highland life.
The reality was very different and one of great hardship, but the dream of pastoral life held an irresistible appeal in Victorian culture.
WDYTYA? Magazine reader Iain Taylor has been astonished to discover a link to a family of painters who were masters of this style and whose work continues to be highly soughtafter today. “The search started with the birth of my new grandson in 2015,” Iain explains. “His dad is my son-in-law and that side of the family didn’t know anything about their history.
“They knew that I’m very keen on genealogy and asked me to take a look. I began researching and discovered that they were descendants of a William Watson, who was born in Romsey in around 1809.
“I found William on the 1851 census, living at Gothic Cottages in Lewisham, Kent. I was intrigued when I noticed his occupation was ‘artist, portrait and animal painter’. I’m a retired graphic designer so this really captured my attention. The more I delved into his life, the more engrossed I became. I Googled William Watson and was astonished to find images of his artworks online. He must have been a successful painter to still have recognition today. I discovered that he worked with oils and painted farm animals close-up and in very fine detail. In one painting from 1859, called Inquisitive Calves, the brushwork is so intricate that you can see the strands of hair and tufts of wool on the animals’ coats.
“They are beautiful, restful images of a bucolic world and quite a departure from the paintings of earlier eras, that focused on grand, sweeping estates.” William and Caroline had five children – Valentine, Charles, Frances, William Junior and Robert. The family moved around from Lewisham to Brighton, Worcester and Birkenhead. William must have been able to earn his living from painting because he continues to give his occupation as an artist of animals/ landscapes in each census.
“He passed on his gift to his children because I was thrilled to discover that several of them became artists, too. Some enjoyed great success in their lifetimes.”
A ‘jaw-dropping moment’
Iain began researching the life of William Watson Junior, who was born in
around 1848 in Islington, London, and found gems of information on art auction
websites. One states that: “William flourished in the mid- to late-19th century
and came from a family of painters originating in Liverpool.” The next sentence
provided a jaw-dropping moment. He was “a pupil of the iconic Sir Edwin
Landseer and French artist Rosa Bonheur”.
Landseer is one of the most prominent artists in British history and famously
sculpted the four bronze lions who stand guard at the base of Nelson’s Column
in Trafalgar Square. His reputation as an animal painter was unrivalled and he
was commissioned by Queen Victoria to paint her portrait and teach her
children to draw. His appeal crossed the class boundaries and many middle-class
households had replicas of his paintings. Landseer’s much-loved artworks
featured Newfoundland dogs, Arab horses, wild cattle, deer as well as birds of
prey.
Rosa Bonheur was also celebrated for her artistic realism and beautifully
detailed paintings of animals. She is widely recognised as being the most
famous female artist of the 19th century. “To be tutored in his craft by such
masters must have been an incredible experience for a budding artist.”
Like Landseer, William Junior was very inspired by the scenery and wildlife of
the Scottish Highlands, in particular Argyllshire. He painted between 1866 and
1921 and created pastoral artworks where animals take centre-stage. Highland cattle were a favourite of William Junior, perhaps because their thick red coats contrasted so beautifully against the moody colour palette of the lochs and glens.
“William expertly captured the majesty of these animals. The detail of their coats and the shine in their eyes are so vivid that it’s as though they’re standing right before me. I could almost reach out and touch them. I wonder how close he got to these beautiful creatures and how he painted them in when they were in the wild and would have been moving all the time.
“I’m originally from Scotland and I would love to travel back in time and look over William’s shoulder. I enjoy oil painting in my spare time and like to focus on old and derelict buildings. I don’t know what that says about me!”
William was prolific and found his niche in a hugely popular market. Rich Victorian patrons commissioned artists to paint idyllic scenes to adorn their newly-built villas and country houses over the border. William’s work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London between 1866 to 1872.
They can be enjoyed today at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, the Williamson Gallery in Birkenhead and at the Manchester Art Gallery.
A comfortable life
“William must have enjoyed lifelong success because he lived in a large, comfortable home in Birkenhead and could afford to employ a domestic servant. He and his wife Eleanor had seven children,” adds Iain.
William’s artworks sell at auction today for between £3,000 and £4,000 and are particularly popular in the North American market. “Collectors seem drawn to the romantic vision of the past that Watson paintings evoke.
Iain’s favourite painter among the Watson tribe is Caroline, one of William Junior’s children. She was born in 1871 in Birkenhead. “I love Caroline’s simpler more impressionist style of painting. They’re very romantic and feminine artworks. She’s an unsung heroine because, ironically, I’ve found a number of her works have been attributed to other male artists. I really want to correct this and give her the credit she deserved.”
Caroline’s brother Walter J Watson was a big success story and his work can fetch up to £7,000 at auctions today. Walter loved to paint Hampstead Heath and the valleys and mountains of North Wales as well as the Scottish Highlands.
Like many family historians, Iain has found a mysterious figure in his research whose life took a darker turn. “William Junior had a son called William Robert Charles Watson, who was born in 1873 and lived in Cornwall during the 1901 census where he, too, was a painter. He married Lucy Mary Hopps, the daughter of Alfred Chantell Hopps, a wealthy petroleum merchant who lived in style at Poulton Hall on the Wirral.
“Tracing William Robert Charles forward I found a disturbing probate record for him. It stated he was last seen alive on 30 January 1928 and his dead body was found three days later on Princess Jetty, Liverpool. He left only £20 to his widow, Lucy.
A death by drowning
“I was intrigued by this odd and tragic turn of events, so I ordered his death certificate. It stated that he died by drowning but it didn’t reveal how he got into the water. Instincts tell me that he may have had money or drinking problems and committed suicide. It’s all the more mysterious given that he married into such a wealthy family.”
The Watson legacy is mainly a positive one, however, with eight of William Watson senior’s descendants becoming artists. Iain has been intrigued that the family has not garnered greater acclaim but there may be a reason for this. “None of the main artists in the Watson family after William Junior had children, so some branches of the tree came to an end.
“I thought it was sad that their legacy might be lost so I decided to help keep their memory alive by creating a website about them. My hope is that other descendants of the Watsons will see it and get in touch. They might know of artworks that we haven’t seen before.
“I’d love to see a portrait of any of the Watson painters – there must be one out there somewhere. It has been a pleasure to discover them and to celebrate their achievements.
” Perhaps Iain’s young grandson, whose arrival sparked off the search, might inherit their talent and become a painter himself
” William Senior’s artistic flair was inherited by two more of his sons – Robert and Charles. Robert was a prolific painter of Highland cattle and sheep, picturing them huddling together for warmth on precipitous hillsides amid violent weather. Robert died in 1920 in Ramsey on the Isle of Man and Iain has found an obituary for him from the Isle of Man Examiner, which describes him as “the famous painter of Highland cattle”. Robert’s work sells well today at auctions of fine art, where experts appreciate his “delicate and sensitive palette”.
However, life was turbulent for some of the Watson painters. Robert’s brother Charles joined the Royal Navy and became an orderly on the vessel Algiers. He next appears in the 1871 census where he is listed at Hastings workhouse as a pauper and blind, possibly from a Naval injury. Charles’s visual impairment didn’t prevent him from pursuing art because in the 1891 census, he is recorded as a sculptor and painter, “blind for 30 years”.
Iain Taylor at the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum with William Watson’s Sheep on a Mountainside