Nature.

A different kind of distraction was obtained after his return by
occasional visits to Esher, where he was the guest of Mrs. Sanderson,
sister of Mr. Prinsep, and where he spent many a happy day riding to
hounds. For games he had no training, and little inclination, though he
loved in his old age to watch and encourage the village cricket in
Surrey; but riding gave him great pleasure. His love for the horse may
in part be due to this pastime, in part to his early study of the
Parthenon frieze with its famous procession of horsemen. Certainly this
animal plays a notable part in his work. Two great equestrian statues
occupied him for many years. 'Hugh Lupus', the ancestor of the
Grosvenors, was cast in bronze in 1884 and set up at Eaton Hall in the
Duke of Westminster's park. 'Physical Energy' was the name given to a
similar figure conceived on broader and more ideal lines. At this Watts
continued to work till the year of his death, though he parted with the
first version in response to Lord Grey's appeal when it was wanted to
adorn the monument to Cecil Rhodes. Its original destination was the
tomb in the Matoppo hills; but it was proved impracticable to convey
such a colossal work, without injury, over the rough country surrounding
them; and it was set up at Cape Town. The statue has become better known
to the English public since a second version has been set up in
Kensington Gardens. The rider, bestriding a powerful horse, has flung
himself back and is gazing eagerly into the distance, shading with
uplifted hand his eyes against the fierce sunlight which dazzles them.
The allegory is not hard to interpret, though the tame landscape of a
London park frames it less fitly than a wide stretch of wild and
solitary veld.

Horses of many different kinds figure in his pictures. In one, whose
subject is taken from the Apocalypse, we see the war-horse, his neck
'clothed with thunder'; in another his head is bowed, the lines
harmonizing with the mood of his master, Sir Galahad. 'The Midday Rest',
unheroic in theme but grand in treatment, shows us two massive dray
horses, which were lent to him as models by Messrs. Barclay and Perkins,
while 'A patient life of unrewarded toil' renders sympathetically the
weakness of the veteran discharged after years of service, waiting
patiently for the end. One instance of a more imaginative kind shows us
'Neptune's Horses' as the painter dimly discerned them, with arched
necks and f