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GEORGE FREDERIC WATTS Collection of letters in the Heinz Archive & Library
Introduction Selected letters to and from George Frederic Watts relating to the sitters in his portraits at the National Portrait Gallery Index of letters to George Frederic Watts and his wife Mary Seton Watts (including a few letters addressed to other correspondents - presumably enclosed with letters to Watts and his wife) Index of letters from George Frederic Watts Index of letters from Mary Seton Watts Miscellaneous notes and papers
	Introduction
G.F. Watts, self-portrait, c.1879 NPG 1406	The Heinz Archive and Library holds a small collection of manuscripts that relate specifically to British portraiture and, in particular, to portrait painters represented in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery. Amongst the collection are artists' diaries and account books, studio ledgers and sitter books, which document both the work and practice of portrait painters and provide lists of portraits produced by them. Alongside these volumes, the Archive & Library holds several private archives, comprising mainly artists' correspondence, but also the papers of art historians who have researched particular painters and donated their files to the Gallery. One of the most important collections of correspondence held by the Archive & Library is that of the great Victorian portrait painter George Frederic Watts (1817-1904).
Letter from G.F.Watts to Julia Margaret Cameron, 21 June 1865, P125	The Watts letters held by the Heinz Archive and Library were brought together by the artist's second wife Mary Seton Watts (1849-1938), whilst she was preparing her monumental biography of her husband, which was published in 1912. As part of her research for this project, she advertised for the loan of her late husband's letters in the Athenaeum, Manchester Guardian, Times and Spectator in July 1905 with the intention of making copies for biographical research purposes. The correspondence was arranged and pasted into 15 albums (of which 14 albums are at the National Portrait Gallery). The collection includes both original letters to and from George Frederic Watts and a great many hand-written or typed transcriptions of his letters, made either by Mary Watts or her correspondents. Most of the transcriptions relate to privately owned letters, the present whereabouts of which may be unknown. The albums also contain the covering letters addressed to Mary Watts in response to her advertisements, and these often provide further contextual information about the exchanges between Watts and his correspondents, and other manuscript material, including notes of conversations and reminiscences.
G.F. Watts by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1864 NPG P215	The collection was originally deposited in the Watts Gallery at Compton, however, it was removed during the 1970s and the albums and most noteworthy letters were sold as separate lots at Sotheby's in 1979. The National Portrait Gallery acquired 14 of the original albums (volume 6, which contained the letters of Frederic Lord Leighton, is not part of the present collection) plus many of the letters that were sold separately. The Gallery subsequently obtained copies of other letters that were acquired for public or academic institutions (most notably Princeton University) and these have been incorporated into the collection. However, the loose letters have not been returned to the albums from which they were removed but are arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent and stored separately in boxes.
Letter from Mathew Arnold to G.F. Watts, 15 April 1882 (?), 1000c	The bulk of the correspondence covers the years from 1847 to 1904, however letters received by Mary Watts after her husband's death have also been incorporated where appropriate. Although certain of Watts's correspondents, in particular the Pre-Raphaelite artists, are missing from the collection, the letters represent a broad cross-section of the artistic and social circles in which he moved and provide a unique insight to the man and his work. The collection contains exchanges of correspondence with many important Victorian figures including, amongst others: Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Carlyle, William Ewart Gladstone, Sir John Everett Millais, Cecil Rhodes, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Opening from album 2, pp.82-83, 71	At their shortest and simplest, the letters record appointments for sittings and such everyday matters as invitations to dinner, visits to and from friends, concert performances and other social engagements. However, the collection also contains a number of extensive series of letters with close friends, patrons and colleagues, which represent an extremely important manuscript source of information on the artist's life. These include 205 letters from Watts to his principal patron, and Manchester businessman, Charles Hilditch Rickards, in which he discusses his own work and comments on that of his contemporaries; 66 letters to Mary Gertrude Mead, who organised the exhibition of his paintings at the Metropolitan Museum in New York 1884-1885; and 222 letters exchanged with J. Scott Taylor of the North London Colour Works concerning technical matters, including pigments, canvasses, paint stability, varnishes, oils, brushes etc.
Letter from William Ewart Gladstone to G.F. Watts, 24 June 1885, 1126e	Other correspondence provides historical insights, such as Julia Margaret Cameron's lengthy letter to her husband of the 25 May 1860, copied to Watts, in which she describes life on the Isle of Wight; and a series of 14 letters from William Ewart Gladstone, in which he arranges sittings, praises Watts's work and twice offers him a baronetcy (on both occasions declined). A number of letters relate to portraits by Watts that are now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, including Matthew Arnold (NPG 1000) and Thomas Carlyle (NPG 1002), and a selection of these, together with the relevant portraits, are illustrated at the Selected letters to and from George Frederic Watts relating to the sitters in his portraits at the National Portrait Gallery link above.
G.F. Watts, by Edward Steichen, 1903 NPG P168	The collection of letters, as originally assembled into 15 albums by Mary Watts, is listed in a general index inside the front cover of volume 1. Each volume also contains a separate index of its contents, which, because of the subsequent removal of letters, is no longer entirely accurate. All of the original letters to and from Watts have been catalogued and are included in the card catalogue of autograph letters in the Heinz Archive & Library. However, the bulk of the correspondence, represented by hand-written and typed copies of letters, has not been catalogued at this level. The correspondence can be consulted on an appointment basis in the Public Study Room of the Heinz Archive & Library. Indexes to the collection, arranged alphabetically by correspondent, can be found at the above links: Index of letters to George Frederic Watts and his wife Mary Seton Watts; Index of letters from George Frederic Watts; Index of letters from Mary Seton Watts; and Miscellaneous notes and papers. (Note: These indexes supersede a listing that was supplied to the National Register of Archives by the Watts Gallery prior to the removal and dispersal at auction of choice autograph letters from the collection).
	Details of other archive repositories that hold correspondence, notebooks and sketchbooks relating to George Frederic Watts can be found by searching the records of the National Register of Archives.
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