Thursday 22 March 2012

"Dame Ellen Terry", George Frederic Watts, 1864


This painting is even more interesting after learning more about the artist and the sitter, Watts was a known for his portraiture and studies of women, in the 1860's he was introduced to two actresses, Kate and Ellen Terry. Watts was fascinated by Ellen's looks and planned to adopt her but then married her instead on the 20th of February 1864 when she was believed to be 16 and Watts 46, which is quite an age gap. She sat for him for many paintings but after a year their marriage broke down and Watts prompted a legal separation as Ellen was sent back to her parents. Watts would continue to finish paintings of her that he has begun.

I think this would be fantastic to replicate, It reminds me of the remake of 'Pot Pourri' by >>>>> which I love for its delicacy which is something that I feel I would be able to bring to this as a remake. The character of Dame Ellen Terry looks very similar to a friend, Ruby, who could pull this off beautifully. There is not a lot of costume showing in this image so it would be fundamental for the collar, sleeve and jewellery to all be perfect. The atmosphere of this could be fairly easily reproduced using a box light in a studio which I feel is one of the most crucial things to achieve. The foliage may prove problematic if they do not fit perfectly or if the colours are slightly off and getting them to sit in place may look unnatural.

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