The sitter was good enough to say that the portrait
was of "a mad labourer"--not an unfair criticism of a very good
portrait.
_The Biblical Paintings_ are, as before said, in partial fulfilment of
the frustrated scheme of "Cosmos." "Eve Repentant," in an attitude so
typical of grief, is perhaps the most beautiful; it is one of a trilogy,
the others being "She shall be called Woman," and "Eve Tempted." It is
singular that in these three canvases the painter avoids the attempt to
draw the face of the mother of the race. In the first the face is
upturned, covered in shadow; in the second it is hid from view by the
leaves of the forbidden tree, while in the third Eve turns her back and
hides her weeping face with her arms. This habit of Watts to obscure the
face is observed in "The Shuddering Angel," Judgment in "Time, Death,
and Judgment," in "Love and Death," "Sic Transit," "Great Possessions,"
and some others. Often indeed a picture speaks as much of what is not
seen as of what is seen.
Incidents from the Gospels are represented by "The Prodigal," where the
outcast is seen crouching on the ground, his face fixed on vacuity,
almost in the act of coming to himself.
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