page_title: Ellen Terry
section_title: Watts, Godwin and return to acting
hierarchical_section_title: Ellen Terry / Watts, Godwin and return to acting
caption_attribution_description: Dame (Alice) Ellen Terry ('Choosing'), by George Frederic Watts (died 1904). The subject is (Alice) Ellen Terry (1847-1928). See source website for additional information. From en:Ellen Terry: In London, during an engagement at the Haymarket Theatre, Terry and her sister Kate had their portraits painted by the eminent artist George Frederick Watts, and he soon proposed marriage. Watts's famous portraits of Terry include "Choosing," in which Terry must select between earthly vanities, symbolised by showy, but scent-less camellias and nobler values symbolised by humble-looking, but fragrant violets. Other famous portraits include "Ophelia" and, together with her sister Kate, "The Sisters." Terry was impressed with the art and elegance of his lifestyle and wished to please her parents by making an advantageous marriage. They married on 20 February 1864, shortly before her 17th birthday, when Watts was 46. During her marriage to Watts, she was uncomfortable in the role of child bride. Terry and Watts were separated after only ten months of marriage, during which she took a break from the stage, returning by 1866. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have been confirmed as author died before 1939 according to the official death date listed by the NPG.
context_page_description: Dame Alice Ellen Terry, GBE, known professionally as Ellen Terry, was a renowned English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured throughout the British provinces in her teens. At 16, she married the 46-year-old artist George Frederic Watts, but they separated within a year. She soon returned to the stage but began a relationship with the architect Edward William Godwin and retired from the stage for six years. She resumed acting in 1874 and was immediately acclaimed for her portrayal of roles in Shakespeare and other classics.
  In 1878 she joined Henry Irving's company as his leading lady, and for more than the next two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain. Two of her most famous roles were Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. She and Irving also toured with great success in America and Britain.
  In 1903 Terry took over management of London's Imperial Theatre, focusing on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen.
context_section_description: Terry married three times and was involved in numerous relationships. In London, during her engagement at the Haymarket Theatre, she and her sister Kate had their portraits painted by the eminent artist George Frederic Watts. His famous portraits of Terry include Choosing, in which she must select between earthly vanities, symbolised by showy but scentless camellias, and nobler values symbolised by humble-looking but fragrant violets. His other famous portraits of her include Ophelia and Watchman, and, with Kate, The Sisters. He proposed marriage to Terry in spite of his being three decades her senior. She was impressed with Watts's art and elegant lifestyle, and she wished to please her parents by making an advantageous marriage. She left the stage during the run of Tom Taylor's hit comedy Our American Cousin at the Haymarket, in which she played Mary Meredith.
  Terry and Watts married on 20 February 1864 at St Barnabas, Kensington, seven days before her 17th birthday, when Watts was 46. She was uncomfortable in the role of child bride, and Watts's circle of admirers, including Mrs Prinsep, were not welcoming. Terry and Watts separated after only 10 months. However, during that short time, she had the opportunity to meet many cultured, talented and important people, such as poets Robert Browning, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson; prime ministers William Ewart Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli and photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Because of Watts's paintings of her and her association with him, she "became a cult figure for poets and painters of the later Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic movements, including Oscar Wilde".
  She returned to acting by 1866. In 1867, Terry performed in several Tom Taylor pieces, including A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing at the Adelphi Theatre, The Antipodes at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and Still Waters Run Deep at the Queen's Theatre, Long Acre. She would play there later that year for the first time opposite Henry Irving in the title roles of Katherine and Petruchio, David Garrick's one-act version of The Taming of the Shrew.
  In 1868, despite her parents' objection, she began a relationship with the progressive architect-designer and essayist Edward William Godwin, another man whose taste she admired, whom she had met some years before. They retreated to Pigeonwick, a house in Harpenden, where she retired from acting for six years. Terry was still married to Watts, not finalising the divorce until 1877, so she and Godwin could not marry. However, they had a daughter, Edith Craig, in 1869 and a son, Edward Gordon Craig, in 1872. The surname Craig was chosen to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy, but their cohabitation and children born out of wedlock were considered scandalous situations at the time.
  The relationship cooled in 1874 amid Godwin's preoccupation with his architectural practice and financial difficulties. However, even after their 1875 separation, Godwin continued to design Terry's costumes when she returned to the stage. In 1874 Terry played in a number of roles in Charles Reade's works: Philippa Chester in The Wandering Heir; Susan Merton in It's Never Too Late to Mend; and Helen Rolleston in Our Seamen. That same year she performed at the Crystal Palace with Charles Wyndham as Volante in The Honeymoon by John Tobin and as Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith.
caption: Choosing: painting by first husband, George Frederic Watts c. 1864
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