Watts

Hare, William Loftus, 1868-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 67K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Watts (1817-1904) by William Loftus HareAuthor: Hare, William Loftus, 1868-1943,Language: English, Class: ND: Fine Arts: Painting, Release Date: Sep 17, 2004

Editor's review

This book is a biographical study of the English painter George Frederic Watts by William Loftus Hare, a public-domain art title in the Project Gutenberg free ebook collection. Watts was a major painter and sculptor of nineteenth-century Victorian Britain, known for portraits and allegorical works. Hare places Watts's artistic career in its period context, combining commentary on the works with biographical threads. The book is short and serves well as an introductory read on Victorian British art and on Watts himself. Its value lies in offering a portrait of the painter from a contemporary perspective, in plain prose and clear organization. Reading it alongside images of Watts's representative works is recommended. Because the book was written early, some of its art-historical judgments reflect the limitations of its time, and readers should keep a critical eye. It suits beginners in art history, enthusiasts of British culture, and researchers needing public-domain material in English; it should not be treated as the sole basis for contemporary scholarly research.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Art lovers interested in Victorian British painting
Students and researchers needing public-domain art-history material in English
Readers who wish to learn about Watts's life and creative background
Readers with intermediate or better English who prefer short biographies

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting high-resolution plates or an art-album reading experience
Specialists needing cutting-edge contemporary art-historical analysis
Beginners who find English difficult and would prefer a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Look at images of Watts's representative works first, then read the commentary, pairing image and text.
Read section by section, and after each chapter outline the timeline of Watts's artistic career.
Annotate period-bound judgments in the book and compare them with later art-historical accounts.
Read alongside background material on Victorian British society and culture.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book written by Watts himself?

No. It is a biographical study of the painter George Frederic Watts by William Loftus Hare—an account by another person of Watts's life and work, not an autobiography or a treatise on painting by Watts.

Does the book include illustrations of Watts's works?

The available information only confirms that this is a public-domain art text; it does not state whether illustrations are included. Project Gutenberg editions are usually text-based, so readers are advised to seek images of Watts's works separately for comparison.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

This is a public-domain biography in English. Written early, its sentences are somewhat traditional but generally plain. Intermediate reading ability or above is enough to read it through; a dictionary for art terms will help without hindering overall understanding.

Is this book suitable as a source to cite in an art-history paper?

It can be consulted as an early research source, but because it was written long ago, some judgments reflect the limitations of its time. Use it only as supplementary material; core arguments should rest on contemporary academic publications and authoritative art-history works.

Comments

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About the author

Hare, William Loftus, 1868-1943 Author · British · 1868–1943

William Loftus Hare (1868–1943) was a British writer. He was born in 1868 and died in 1943. Public information about his life and education is limited, and only one of his works, Watts, is currently held in the collection. Judging from the subjects of his known writing and translation, his interests centred on Eastern and Western mysticism, symbolism, and the history of religious thought. Such themes call for connections between comparative religion, philosophical ideas, and artistic symbolism, and his work therefore shows a characteristic concern with cross-cultural inquiry and intellectual history. Although few details of his output and career are recorded, his translations and discussions of mystical traditions and symbolic systems remain a useful sidelight on how modern British intellectuals received Eastern and Western religious ideas.