G F Watts - Portrait of a Lady, possibly Mrs Crawshay

Indistinctly inscribed with the sitter’s name and the artist’s address on a fragmented label
attached to the frame
Oil on canvas, 26 × 21 in, in the original Watts frame

Provenance: Lilian Mackintosh (the artist’s adoptive daughter) and thence by descent

This portrait is believed to be of the artist’s housekeeper Mrs Crawshay. Lilian
Mackintosh inherited the work from Watts. Lilian was educated at Roedean School
near Brighton and was permitted as a special favour to Watts to wear long flowing
Pre-Raphaelite dresses rather than the regular uniform. She was part of the Watt’s
household until the artist’s death in 1904. After the death of her husband Michael
Chapman, Lilian returned with her children to the Watts family home in Compton
where they remained until the 1930s.