Antiques Decorative (Sussex) has dated this Antique Garden Oil Painting to the 1900s.
A Woman in the Garden at Limnerslease, Possibly Mary Seton Watts**
Late 19th or early 20th century**
Oil on canvas**
A seated woman rests beside the garden’s terracotta sundial, surrounded by flowering borders, slender evergreens and warm brick walls. Beyond rises the distinctive tiled roof of Watts’s sculpture barn. Soft greens, earthy reds and a luminous sky create a tranquil depiction of this intimate artistic setting.
Watts Gallery has identified the location and confirmed that the central sundial was designed by Mary Watts and made by Frank Mitchell. Mary’s own account describes the transformation of the former cattle-yard beside the barn into a secluded garden where her husband would rest.
The painting is attributed to Louis Reid Deuchars, the Scottish painter and sculptor who worked closely with both George and Mary Watts. He assisted Mary with the decoration of the Watts Cemetery Chapel at Compton and subsequently worked at the pottery she established at Aldourie, her family home on Loch Ness.
The attribution is supported by correspondence from Deuchars researcher Louise Boreham, who wrote on 21 October 2026 that she was **“sure [the painting] was done by Deuchars.”**
The composition closely corresponds to Deuchars’s portrait of George Frederic Watts seated in the same garden, sharing the brick gateway, tiled building and central sundial. Here, the woman appears within a broader view of the surroundings. Comparison of the available photographs suggests more fully articulated flowers and brickwork in the present painting, while greater definition is given to the sitter’s face in the George Watts portrait.
The seated woman may be Mary Seton Watts, although her identity remains unconfirmed.** Watts Gallery considered Mary a possibility but expressed reservations, suggesting that the figure might alternatively represent a member of the household staff. Mary has therefore not been ruled out, but the painting is offered with the sitter’s identity left open.
This painting presents a rare opportunity to acquire a work with strong associations with the British Arts and Crafts movement and the artistic circle of George Frederic and Mary Seton Watts.** Its identifiable setting within their private garden at Limnerslease, together with its attribution to Louis Reid Deuchars, an artist closely involved in their creative lives, gives the composition particular historical and artistic interest.
Presented in an ornate gilt frame, this evocative garden scene offers collectors of British art and the Arts and Crafts movement an unusual connection to one of the most significant artistic households of the period.
With grateful thanks to Dr Louise Boreham for her generous assistance and expertise in researching the attribution to Louis Reid Deuchars.
An illustrated research report is available on request.**
Measurements: 87 x 108 cm in frame.
Condition
Slightly discoloured varnish and a small previous repair
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Antiques Decorative (Sussex) has dated this Antique Garden Oil Painting to the 1900s.
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Attributed to Louis Reid Deuchars (1870–1927) Oil Painting of a Woman in the Garden at Limnerslease, Possibly Mary Seton Watts
