MacConnal-Mason Gallery

Timeline

Frederick Waters Watts was born in 1800. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1821 and 1860, the British Institution between 1823 and 1862, and the Society of British Artists from 1830. His pictures are seldom signed, but occasionally bear initials.

For most of his life his home was in Hampstead, where in 1821 he established a studio in the High Street. In 1830 he moved to 6, Union Terrace, Camden Town and seven years later, in 1837, to number 1, Tavistock Terrace, where he remained until his death.

Watts travelled extensively through England and Wales, and also for a period of time on the Continent, with Richard Parkes Bonnington. He painted landscapes and river scenes that have a close affinity with John Constable at a time when both the latter and Watts were determined to break away from the traditional form of eighteenth century painting, and paint the effects of natural lighting from nature.

Little is known of his life, but the large number of paintings he exhibited attests to his success: seventy-six at the Royal Academy, one hundred and eight at the British Institution, and a further sixty-five at the Suffolk Street Galleries of the Society of British Artists.