Mary and the Watts Chapel

A little while back I made brief mention of Mary Seton Watts, creator of the Watts Memorial Chapel, one of my earliest childhood haunts, which was completed in 1904 and dedicated to the memory of her husband, the Victorian artist George Frederick Watts. Born in Scotland, and a talented painter and ceramic artist in her own right, Mary was Watt's second wife, marrying him in 1886, after his disasterous marriage to the actress Ellen Terry came to an end.

Mary herself trained at the Slade and South Kensington School of Art but as with most women of the period, her work seems to have been largely overshadowed by her male contemporaries. She herself once recorded in her diary that 'It is not easy being an artist's wife.' G.F Watts however, doesn't seem to have been entirely without sympathy to her plight, insisting that she rather than himself take credit for work done on the Chapel, as explained by the Watt's Gallery's fabulous ex curator, Richard Jeffries here;



Jefferies is someone I've had the good fortune to meet. His enthusiasm and passion for Watts and this little corner of England is infectious and to my mind, his departure from the gallery in 2006 a great loss.

Following the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement (in particular those of the Home Arts and Industries Association set up by Earl Brownlow in 1885) and the Victorian notion of social improvement, Mary herself was a passionate believer that anyone who displayed interest in the arts could themselves be taught to create beautiful decoration. With this in mind, she set about teaching clay modelling to the villagers of Compton at Limnerslease, (Limner being an Old English word for painter) the home she shared with Watts, and as Jefferies explains then went on to encourage her students to participate in the completion the exterior of the Chapel, which has four principle panels, depicting The Spirit of Hope, The Spirit of Truth, The Spirit of Love and The Spirit of Light. Mary herself described the use of such symbolism as being akin to magic keys opening a whole world of enchantment; a statement it's very difficult to argue against.











As Jefferies suggested, Mary's desire for the terracotta to mellow into the Surrey countryside over time, hasn't exactly come into being, as my photos, taken on a bright summers evening last year will testify. Instead, the terracotta literally zings with vibrancy when caught in the sunlight, matched only by the fur on one of two resident cats who appear out of nowhere each time I visit;-



It sometimes seems as though the cats are the real custodians of the chapel, accompanying visitors up the winding path, through the heavily carved door:-



and on into the cool interior, where if you're lucky one will sit purring and dribbling on your lap as you drink in some of the wonderous gesso splendours, the impressions of which are always difficult to catch effectively due to the small rotund nature of the chapel interior;-











Mary outlived her more famous husband by 34 years, eventually dying aged 87 in 1938.

The Watts Gallery (as opposed to the Chapel) is currently the subject of extensive restoration and is due to reopen sometime in 2011.