George Fiddes Watt Explained

George Fiddes Watt
Birth Date:	15 February 1873
Death Date:	22 November 1960
Death Place:	Aberdeen
Nationality:	Scottish
Field:	Portrait painting, engraving
Works:	H.H. Asquith, A.J. Balfour...

George Fiddes Watt (15 February 1873 – 22 November 1960) was a Scottish portrait painter and engraver.

Biography

Watt studied art at Gray's School of Art, Edinburgh and the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.^[1] He was elected to the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1924 and received an honorary LL.D. degree from the University of Aberdeen in 1955.^[1]

Watt was sculpted by Henry Snell Gamley in 1912, Watt's son Albert having been sculpted by Gamley four years previously.^[2] A bronze statue of Watt by Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones, made in 1942, is in Aberdeen.^[3]

Works

Watt's large output includes paintings of many famous people of his time in Britain.^[4] An exception among the many portraits is a landscape, J. P. Inverarity Mauled by a Lioness, Somaliland .^[5]

Portraits

Lawyers

• Viscount Haldane (Lincoln's Inn)^[1]
• Viscount Reading (Middle Temple)^[1]

Divines

• William Paterson Paterson

Scientists

• Sir J. J. Thomson (Royal Society)^[1]

Politicians

• H.H. Asquith^[4]
• A.J. Balfour (National Portrait Gallery)^{[4] [6]}
• Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon^[7]
• Sir William Slater Brown, Lord Provost of Edinburgh^[8]

Academics

• Thomas Martin Lindsay^[9]

Mezzotint engravings

• Robert Bannatyne Finlay (Royal Courts of Justice)^[10]

Collections and exhibitions

Watt's work was exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1906 to 1930. His portrait of his mother is in the Tate Gallery's collection.^[1]

Family

His third son, Alexander Stuart Watt (1909–1967) was a journalist based in Paris. Alastair Fiddes Watt (b. 1954) is also a landscape painter.^[4]

Bibliography

• Chamot, Mary; Farr, Dennis; Butlin, Martin. The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II.
• Web site: Fiddes Watt, Index no 101036779. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Watt, (George) Fiddes (1873–1960), portrait painter . Sutherland, D.M.. 2004–2011 . 6 October 2012 .

External links

• • Wattart.com: Family: George Fiddes Watt
• Invaluable: George Fiddes Watt
• Aberdeen Art Gallery: portrait of George Fiddes Watt, 1911

Notes and References

1. Web site: George Fiddes Watt . Tate Gallery . 6 October 2012.
2. Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951 http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib6_1210158597
3. Web site: George Fiddes Watt, 1942 . Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums . 9 March 2013.
4. Web site: Family of Alastair Fiddes Watt: George Fiddes Watt RSA RP LLD . Wattart.com . 2001–2007 . 6 October 2012.
5. Web site: J. P. Inverarity Mauled by a Lioness, Somaliland . . 1901 . 6 October 2012 . Watt, George Fiddes.
6. Web site: (George) Fiddes Watt, Portrait Painter . National Portrait Gallery . Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, photogravure . 6 October 2012 . Walker, Sir Emery, after (George) Fiddes Watt.
7. Web site: Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Falloden (1862–1933) Foreign Secretary . Government Art Collection . 6 October 2012 . Watt, George Fiddes.
8. Web site: William Slater Brown, Lord Provost (1909–1912) Art UK. 2021-10-24. artuk.org. en.
9. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/principal-thomas-martin-lindsay-18431914-139044 Thomas Martin Lindsay
10. Web site: Robert Bannatyne Finlay, 1st Viscount Finlay (1842–1929), Lord Chancellor . Government Art Collection . 1917 . 6 October 2012 . Macbeth-Raeburn, Henry (artist) . Watt, George Fiddes (engraver).