GEORGE FREDERIC WATTS, O.M., R.A. | Portrait of The Countess Somers

Sotheby's, London, 21 June 1989, lot 128;

Private collection;

Sotheby's, London, 1 July 2004, lot 296A, where purchased by Stan Battat

Virginia Pattle (1826-1910) married Sir Charles Newton, Lord Somers on 2 October 1850, an event which left Watts ‘deeply grieved by the thought that Lady Somers had married; we thought she ought not to marry any one.’ (Mary Seton Watts, George Frederic Watts – The Annals of an Artist’s Life, 1912, p.126) Watts painted her numerous times as a mark of his love and she later recalled; ‘I was never dazzled by another painter’s brush… all other brushes were like boot-brushes to me.’ (ibid Watts, p.122) Ironically it was said that Somers fell in love with Virginia after seeing one of Watts’ portraits of her.