The Watts Gallery, the hugely-popular picturesque Compton homage to immortal Victorian painter George Frederic Watts, has reopened to the public following an £11 million restoration project which has made it one of the most stylish art venues in the land© Watts Gallery/Anne Purkiss
The gallery’s need for refurbishment came under the spotlight when it narrowly missed out in the 2006 BBC series, Restoration Village, and was placed on English Heritage's At Risk register
© Watts Gallery / Anne Purkiss
© Watts Gallery / Anne Purkiss
The beautiful Endymion was one of the exquisite Watts paintings threatened by the leaking roof and dilapidated infrastructure of the gallery. The project has ensured its proper conservation
The original model for Physical Energy, Watts's "monument to unknown worth" which was his most ambitious sculpture. There are bronzes of the colossal work in Kensington Gardens, Cape Town and Harare© Watts Gallery / Anne Purkiss
- Open Tuesday-Saturday 11am-5pm (1pm-5pm Sunday). Admission £3.50-£7.50 (£2 Tuesday, free for under-16s). See Culture24 later this week for our review.
