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Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832-1914), Critic, novelist and poet

Sitter in 3 portraits
Watts studied law and practiced in London, but his real interest was literature. He contributed regularly to the Examiner and was the chief poetry reviewer of the Athenaeum where he enjoyed a great (anonymous) reputation from 1876 to 1902. In 1898, Watts-Dunton published a successful novel, Aylwin, a romance that contained a fictional portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his circle. His other published works include the novel Vesprie Towers (1916) and a book of poems, The Coming of Love (1897). He is best known for his friendship with Algernon Swinburne whom he looked after for almost thirty years following his collapse in 1879.

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Theodore Watts-Dunton

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
pastel, 1874
NPG 4888


Theodore Watts-Dunton

by Sir Henry Maximilian ('Max') Beerbohm
ink and wash
NPG 6911