Incidents from the Gospels are represented by "The Prodigal," where the
outcast is seen crouching on the ground, his face fixed on vacuity,
almost in the act of coming to himself. "For he had Great Possessions,"
is, however, the greatest and simplest of all. There the young man who
went away sorrowful with bowed head, scarcely knowing what he has lost,
is used by Watts as one of his most powerful criticisms of modern life.
Although the incident is a definite isolated one, yet the costume,
figure, chain of office, and jewelled fingers, clutching and releasing,
are of no time or land in particular.

It is not a little remarkable that Watts, who had breathed so deeply the
air of Italy, and had almost lived in company of Titian and Raphael,
should never have attempted the figure of Christ or His apostles. This
was, however, not without reason. His pictures were not only "for all
time," but apart from time altogether. His only specific reference to
Christianity is his beautiful canvas, "The Spirit of Christianity," in
which he rebuked the Churches for their dissensions. A parental figure
floats upon a cloud while four children nestle at her feet. The earth
below is shrouded in darkness and gloom, despite the steeple tower
raising its head above a distant village. The rebuke was immediately
stimulated by the refusal of a certain church to employ Watts when the
officials found he was not of their faith. In this picture Watts
approached nearest to the Italian Madonnas both in form and colour.

_The Mythical Paintings_ are, in the main, earlier than the Biblical
series, but even here the same note of teaching is struck, and our human
sympathies are drawn out towards the figure depicted. In one, "Echo"
comes to find her lover transformed into a flower; in another, "Psyche,"
through disobedience, has lost her love. She gazes regretfully at a