Terms and conditions of use
James Watt's workshop
1886
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 40.5 × 51.0 cm
- Inscription
- inscribed in black paint l.r.: J. PRATT ~ / 1886
- Accession Number
- p.314.1-1
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Messers George and Richard Tangye, 1889
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
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James Watt (1736–1819) is principally known as the inventor of the locomotive engine. His workroom at Heatherfield Hall, near Birmingham was preserved intact until 1928, when it was transferred to the Science Museum, London. The Science Museum holds another, identical version of this painting.
- Subjects (general)
- Biographical Interiors Labour, Industry and Machinery
- Subjects (specific)
- busts (sculpture) inventors mechanical engineering model (concept) steam engines (engines) Watt, James workshops (work spaces)
- Provenance
- Probably painted for George Tangye (1835–1920) and Richard Tangye (1833–1906), Birmingham, 1886; by whom donated, through Thomas D. Gordon, to the NGV, 1889.
Frame
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Interestingly the frame for James Watt’s workshop is a Watts style frame, named after the painter G. F. Watts.
This frame could have been made either in London prior to acquisition or Melbourne after arriving at the NGV in 1889.
The mitred corners are not typical for this frame form and may suggest local manufacture. - Framemaker
- Unknown - 19th century
- Date
- c.1886
- Materials
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timber, composition, gold leaf