George Frederic Watts RA, Two sketches for 'The Denunciation of Cain'.
Black chalk on cream wove paper. 479 mm x 298 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London.
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Two sketches for 'The Denunciation of Cain'
George Frederic Watts RA (1817 - 1904)
RA Collection: Art
On this sheet are two chalk drawings of half-length male figures for 'The Denunciation of Cain' (1871, Royal Academy of Arts, 03/1313, versions at the Watts Gallery and Norwich Castle Museum). These sketches are not as close to the finished painting as the other studies in the Academy collection (see RA 04/63 and 04/130).
The subject is the episode from the Bible (Genesis 4) in which Cain is 'cursed from the earth' to become 'a fugitive and a vagabond' who cannot be killed by any human but must live in the wilderness until released by God. Cain responds 'my punishment is greater than I can bear' and the painting was also known by this title.
These studies are for one of the 'denouncing spirits' (Watts's description) swooping down on Cain who stands over the body of Abel, the brother he murdered. All four drawings relate to the figure at the top left of the painting. Watts wrote that these nude figures 'represent the voices of conscience reproaching him with the many sins that culminated in the murder. The brand is set upon him; he is shut out from contact with all creation'.
Further reading:
Mary Seton Watts, George Frederic Watts, The Annals of an Artist's Life, London, 1912, Vol. I, p. 258
Veronica Franklin Gould ed., The Vision of G F Watts, The Watts Gallery, 2004, cat. no. 57, p. 68
Watts often expressed the emotive force of his figures through their pose or drapery rather than by facial expression. This is apparent in the large number of figures depicted from the side or the back in both his paintings and his drawings. This group of drawings in the Royal Academy collection gives some indication of the large number of Watts's figure studies and preparatory drawings which concentrate on the back.
Watts's choice of poses seems to be part of the same impulse as his habit of obscuring the facial features of figures in his allegorical paintings. Both are part of an effort to universalise his subjects rather than focusing on their individual traits. His sometimes unconventional poses also reveal his dislike for relying on generic compositional rules, or what he called 'picture making'.
Further reading:
Veronica Franklin Gould ed., The Vision of G F Watts, exhib. cat., The Watts Gallery, 2004, pp. 72-74
Object details
479 mm x 298 mm
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