In this, he was a pioneer: few other British artists of the period were using Italian models for their frames, and none so consistently as Watts. This sympathy with the art of the Italian Renaissance may have inspired him to use antique Italian frames and modern replicas on his own paintings. One of his portraits of Lady Holland was compared by a visitor there with the work of Veronese, and his colouristic powers were frequently likened to those of Titian. He met and became friendly with the British ambassador to Italy and his wife, Lord and Lady Holland, and stayed at their house in Florence he also stayed with them at the Villa Medici at Careggi in the Tuscan countryside, where he was given a garden studio. His entry ( Caractacus led in triumph through the streets of Rome ) netted him £300 in prize money, which was a large sum in the mid-19 th century, and enabled him to travel to Italy where he studied and worked from 1843 to 1847.
George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) came to public notice early in his career when he won first prize in the 1842-43 competition to design frescoes for the new Palace of Westminster.
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