George Frederic Watts RA, Studies for 'When Poverty Comes in at the Door'.
Black and white chalk on brown wove paper. 453 mm x 583 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London.
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Studies for 'When Poverty Comes in at the Door'
George Frederic Watts RA (1817 - 1904)
RA Collection: Art
This sheet of studies of a draped female figure probably relate to the reclining woman in the painting 'When Poverty Comes in at the Door, Love Flies out of the Window' (c. 1879, oil sketch in the collection of Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle).
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/study-for-when-poverty-comes-in-at-the-door-love-flies-out-at-the-door-144758/view_as/grid/search/keyword:watts-and-poverty--actor:watts-george-frederic-18171904/page/1
Watts's painting 'When Poverty Comes in at the Door, Loves Flies out at the Window' dates from 1879 and depicts a woman lying on a sofa while the gaunt figure of Poverty appears at the door on the right and Love, on the left, climbs out of the window.
Watts wrote in a letter to the painting's owner William Moss, 'I never intended to imply anything so immoral as that Poverty in the abstract should frighten away Love. You will see that carelessness and indifference to domestic duties, shown by general disorder, doors of cupboards hanging by broken hinges, etc., - have in reality left the door open to the intruder.'
Object details
453 mm x 583 mm
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