![George Frederic Watts - The All-Pervading [1887-90] by Gandalf's Gallery](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5515/11186353965_263fbb6ff5.jpg)
There is something almost womb-like about the way that the woman is cocooned by her golden wings. She is suspended in a misty expanse of space, and despite her heavy robes, reminiscent of the draperies on the Parthenon frieze, appears weightless as she floats in space. The globe seems to hover in her hands, its edges dissolving in a green haze. Despite the figure's calm demeanour, the picture has a disturbing quality, created by the shadowy forms, spectral lighting and dark background.
Watts described the winged figure, in the catalogue of his retrospective show at the New Gallery in 1896, as 'the all-pervading Spirit of the Universe seated, holding in her lap the Globe of Systems. Like one of Michelangelo's monumental Sibyls on the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, her 'all-pervading' vision gives her the power of prophecy, the knowledge of the future and of infinite space. The position of her legs and the arrangement of the draperies in the lower half of the picture make her appear like a giant Earth Mother, about to deliver forth the secrets of the universe.
[Tate Britain, London - Oil on canvas, 213.5 x 112 cm]