Excerpt from Exhibition of Works by the Late George Frederick Watts, R. A. O. M., And the Late Frederick Sandys: Also of the Design for the National Memorial to Queen Victoria by Thomas Brock, R. A., Winter Exhibition, Thirty-Sixth Year, 1905In 1843 he gained one of the first three prizes Offered for designs for the decoration of the Houses of Parliament, the subject he chose being Caractacus led in triumph through the streets of Rome. It was never executed, and the cartoon was cut up and sold, portions of it are to be seen in Nos. 92, 93, 96, and 125. With the �0 thus gained the artist determined to go abroad, and after a short time in Paris proceeded to Florence, where he remained four years as the guest of Lord Holland, the British Minister at the Grand Duke's Court. During this period he painted many portraits of distinguished people.Returning to England in 1847, he took part in the third competition for the decoration of the Houses of Parliament, his subject this time being Alfred inciting his subjects to prevent the landing of the Danes, or the first naval victory of the English. He was again successful, Winning this time a first prize of �0. The cartoon was bought by the Government, and the artist was commissioned to paint a fresco of St. George and the Dragon for ahall in the House of Lords. This work, begun in 1848 and finished in 1853, has since perished. Another wall painting by him in the hall of Lincoln's Inn, somewhat later in date, has been rescued from a similar fate.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.