painting represents the close of this phase of Watts' work; he received
a gift of £500 and a gold cup in memory of its achievement. In England,
at least, no one has ever attempted or accomplished anything in fresco
of so great dimensions. Watts' monumental genius drove him to sculpture
on the grand scale also. "Hugh Lupus" for the Duke of Westminster, and
"Physical Energy," upon which he laboured at intervals during
twenty-five years of his life, are his great triumphs in this direction.
It is not the first time that an artist deficient in health and strength
has made physical energy into a demigod. Men often, perhaps always,
idealise what they have not. It was the wish of the sculptor to place a
cast of "Physical Energy" on the grave of Cecil Rhodes on the Matoppo
Hills in South Africa, indicating how Watts found it possible (by
idealising what he wished to idealise), to include within the scope and
patronage of his art, the activities, aims, and interests of modern
Colonial Enterprise.

_Humanitarian Paintings_.--The earliest of these, "The Wounded Heron,"
asks our pity for the injured bird, and forbids us to join in the
enthusiasm of the huntsman who hurries for his suffering prize. The same
thought is expressed in the beautiful "Shuddering Angel," who is
covering his face with his hands at the sight of the mangled plumage
scattered on the altar of fashion. In the large canvases, "A Patient
Life of Unrequited Toil," and "Midday Rest," we have paintings of
horses, both of them designed to teach us consideration for the "friend
of man." "The Sempstress" sings us Tom Hood's "Song of the Shirt."

"The Good Samaritan" (see Plate VII.) properly belongs to this series.
It was presented by the artist to the citizens of Manchester, as an
expression of his admiration of Thomas Wright, the prison
philanthropist, whose work was at that time (1852) creating a sensation