George Spencer Watson R.O.I., R.P., A.R.A., R.A. (8 March 1869, London – 11 April 1934, London) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

 artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 of the late romantic school who sometimes worked in the style of the Italian Renaissance

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...

. He studied at the RA Schools from 1889, exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1891. He won Royal Academy Schools Silver Medals in 1889 and 1891, and the Landseer Scholarship in 1892. He was elected R.O.I. in 1900, R.P. in 1904, A.R.A. in 1923, and a Member of the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 (R.A.) in 1932.

He married Hilda, a dancer and mime artist, and follower of the actor Edward Gordon Craig

Edward Gordon Craig

Edward Henry Gordon Craig , sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings...

. They had a daughter, Mary Spencer Watson (1913–2006), who became a sculptor. In 1923 he bought Dunshay Manor in the hills of the Isle of Purbeck

Isle of Purbeck

The Isle of Purbeck, not a true island but a peninsula, is in the county of Dorset, England. It is bordered by the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well...

, after already have spent holidays in Swanage

Swanage

Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 km south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester. The parish has a population of 10,124 . Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks,...

.

He died in London and a memorial exhibition was held at the Fine Art Society in the same year. There is a memorial to him in the north vestibule of St James's Church, Piccadilly

St James's Church, Piccadilly

St James’s Church, Piccadilly is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, UK. It was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren....

, London.

Some of his works are held at Tate Britain, the Harris Art Gallery

Harris Museum

The Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Preston Free Public Library is a Grade I listed museum building in Preston and has the largest gallery space in Lancashire, England.- History :...

, Preston and collections in Bournemouth, Liverpool, Plymouth and the National Gallery of Canada.
Born in London, Watson studied at the Royal Academy from 1889; he exhibited there from 1891 and also at the Paris salon

Paris Salon

The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...

. Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Galerie Heinemann, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 in 1912, and at the Fine Art Society

Fine Art Society

The Fine Art Society is an art dealership with two premises, one in New Bond Street, London and the other in Edinburgh . It was formed in 1876...

 in 1914.
His work A Lady in Black (1922) is owned by the Tate Collection.

Works

• Cynthia - circa 1932
• A Cottage Garden - 1928 (view of Dunshay)
• The Adoration - 19??
• The Creation -1921 -Wolverhampton Art Gallery, West Midlands, UK
• The Birth of Venus - ? - Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, UK
• Peter and the bear -1915
• Portrait of Monica Boyd - 1909
• Portrait of Esther Harris - 1904
• Portrait of James Harris (accountant) and his dog - ?
• The Fountain - 1900
• Sir Francis Eden Lacey, as Secretary of the MCC, 1928.
• Girl in a Feathered Hat - ?
• Marishka - nude
• The Three Wise Kings - ? - held by Rochdale Art Gallery, Lancashire, UK
• Nude 1927 - Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashire, UK,
• Mary, 1932 Oil on canvas, of his daughter [Mary Spencer Watson] held by the Royal Academy
• My lady of the rose
• Miss Beaton, 1934, 'Baba' Beaton, (Mrs Alec Hambro)
• George Elkington Past Master Quatuor Coronati Lodge (2076) - ?
• Sir Montague Sharpe - ? - Middlesex Guildhall Collection
• Four Loves I found, a Woman, a Child, a Horse and a Hound - 1922
• A picnic at Portofino, 1911
• The Saddler's Daughter (Mary Spencer Watson)