DOI chapter:
Chapter V: Our Friendship
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62482#0290
138 REMINISCENCES OF G. F. WATTS
companion picture, where the monotony of the heavy swollen
tides, receding away to the horizon, is only varied by the
changes which distance gives to the wide spaces of the
waters and to the gray of a sullen, hopeless sky. In this
picture the dove is seeking a refuge in the shelter of the
ark ; in the one before us the dove has found its home
under the wider shelter of the sky.
“THE DUALITY OF MY NATURE.”
It was respecting this exhibition in America that a mis-
understanding arose which caused an angry correspondence
in the newspapers in New York between two eager
combative critics. Each had reason to suppose that he
was acting as Watts’ mouthpiece, and naturally resented
this attitude being disputed by the other. One of
these gentlemen wrote indignant letters to Watts, using
harsh terms as to his conduct in the matter. This dis-
pute caused Watts great disturbance and distress. He
was at Brighton at the time when the anger of the two
critics flared out in print on the other side of the
Atlantic, and on most days letters would be written to
me on the subject. In analysing his own character in con-
versation, he would often express himself puzzled by the
“ duality of my nature.” He wrote in a letter recounting
this misunderstanding with his critics, “You know how
often I have spoken of the extraordinary duality of my
nature.” He further wrote he did not think there was any
one in the world who more desired the best than he did, nor
whose eyes were more earnestly fixed on the good and true
and noble, in fact, whose every sense was more in harmony
with the best he tried to suggest in his work; yet a
companion picture, where the monotony of the heavy swollen
tides, receding away to the horizon, is only varied by the
changes which distance gives to the wide spaces of the
waters and to the gray of a sullen, hopeless sky. In this
picture the dove is seeking a refuge in the shelter of the
ark ; in the one before us the dove has found its home
under the wider shelter of the sky.
“THE DUALITY OF MY NATURE.”
It was respecting this exhibition in America that a mis-
understanding arose which caused an angry correspondence
in the newspapers in New York between two eager
combative critics. Each had reason to suppose that he
was acting as Watts’ mouthpiece, and naturally resented
this attitude being disputed by the other. One of
these gentlemen wrote indignant letters to Watts, using
harsh terms as to his conduct in the matter. This dis-
pute caused Watts great disturbance and distress. He
was at Brighton at the time when the anger of the two
critics flared out in print on the other side of the
Atlantic, and on most days letters would be written to
me on the subject. In analysing his own character in con-
versation, he would often express himself puzzled by the
“ duality of my nature.” He wrote in a letter recounting
this misunderstanding with his critics, “You know how
often I have spoken of the extraordinary duality of my
nature.” He further wrote he did not think there was any
one in the world who more desired the best than he did, nor
whose eyes were more earnestly fixed on the good and true
and noble, in fact, whose every sense was more in harmony
with the best he tried to suggest in his work; yet a