Lot Essay
Although apparently unrecorded, there is no reason to doubt that this is a youthful work by Watts, executed about 1832, when he was fifteen, or even earlier. A number of such works survive. They date from the period when he frequented the studio of the sculptor William Behnes (who introduced him to the Elgin Marbles) and before he entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1835. They also pre-date his two best-known early pictures, a self-portrait of 1834 and The Wounded Heron exhibited at the RA in 1837, both now in the Watts Gallery at Compton. The inscription on the back of our picture is almost certainly by Watts, being identical in style to the signature 'G.F.W.' on a drawing of 1828 in the Watts Gallery. Watts did not develop an 'educated' (and often illegible) hand until many years later.
The British chieftain Caractacus (in English Caradoc) resisted the Romans for nine years, but was captured in AD50 and taken to Rome where he was forced to take part in a triumphal parade past the Emperor Claudius. His undaunted bearing won great admiration, and he is said to have observed that 'he wondered the Romans who possessed such palaces should envy the poor huts of the Britons.' He was allowed to address the Emperor, and reminded him that 'the resistance he had made was a large element in his conqueror's glory; that if he were now put to death he would shortly be forgotten, but that if spared he would be an imperishable monument of the imperial clemency.' The Emperor did in fact grant his life and according to legend he lived another four years, his children becoming Christians and bringing the faith to Britain (see DNB, III, p.936). Watts may have been inspired by a 'metrical sketch' on the subject of Caractacus which was published in London by William Kidd in 1832; and if so it would date our picture more precisely. Whatever the case, it is interesting to find him illustrating the story at this early date. Caractacus Led in Triumph through the Streets of Rome was to be the subject of the prize-winning cartoon he submitted for the first Houses of Parliament competition in 1843.
We are grateful to Richard Jefferies, Curator of the Watts Gallery, for his help in compiling this catalogue entry.
The British chieftain Caractacus (in English Caradoc) resisted the Romans for nine years, but was captured in AD50 and taken to Rome where he was forced to take part in a triumphal parade past the Emperor Claudius. His undaunted bearing won great admiration, and he is said to have observed that 'he wondered the Romans who possessed such palaces should envy the poor huts of the Britons.' He was allowed to address the Emperor, and reminded him that 'the resistance he had made was a large element in his conqueror's glory; that if he were now put to death he would shortly be forgotten, but that if spared he would be an imperishable monument of the imperial clemency.' The Emperor did in fact grant his life and according to legend he lived another four years, his children becoming Christians and bringing the faith to Britain (see DNB, III, p.936). Watts may have been inspired by a 'metrical sketch' on the subject of Caractacus which was published in London by William Kidd in 1832; and if so it would date our picture more precisely. Whatever the case, it is interesting to find him illustrating the story at this early date. Caractacus Led in Triumph through the Streets of Rome was to be the subject of the prize-winning cartoon he submitted for the first Houses of Parliament competition in 1843.
We are grateful to Richard Jefferies, Curator of the Watts Gallery, for his help in compiling this catalogue entry.