George Spencer Watson (1869-1934) was one of the most significant and talented portrait and genre painters of the Edwardian period.

Watson joined the Royal Academy Schools in 1889, winning the school’s Silver Medal in 1889 and 1891 and the Landseer Scholarship in 1892. He exhibited regularly at the RA from 1891, becoming an Associate in 1923 and an Academician nine years later. Watson was also an active member of the Royal Society of British Artists, the Society of Portrait Artists and the Artworkers Guild.

Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Galerie Heinemann, Munich, in 1912 and at the Fine Art Society in 1914. He died in London aged 65, and a memorial exhibition was held at the Fine Art Society in the same year. There is a memorial to him in the north vestibule of St James's Church, Piccadilly.

Watson’s work is held by Tate, the Royal Academy of Arts and The British Museum.