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William Holman Hunt

English painter and co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

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William Holman Hunt

via Wikipedia: William Holman Hunt · see source

William Holman Hunt was an English painter and a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.[1] His paintings are known for vivid colour, elaborate symbolism, and great attention to detail.[1] John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle, through their writings, promoted the idea that the world is a system of visual signs, and this concept shaped the detailed, colorful, and symbolic qualities of Hunt's paintings.[1]

Life and work

Hunt was born in Cheapside, London, on 2 April 1827, to warehouse manager William Hunt and Sarah.[2][3] He adopted the name "Holman" after a clerk misspelled his baptismal name.[2][3] He rebelled against the influence of Royal Academy founder Sir Joshua Reynolds.[4][3] Fanny died in childbirth in Italy in 1866, and Hunt sculpted her tomb for the English Cemetery in Florence.[5][6]

He married Fanny's sister Edith abroad in 1875, as marrying a deceased wife's sister was illegal in Great Britain.[7][3] Hunt married Fanny Waugh in 1861, following the end of his engagement to model Annie Miller.[5] Hunt traveled to the Holy Land in the mid-1850s to gather accurate topographical and ethnographical material for his religious paintings.[8] From 1903 until his death on 7 September 1910, Hunt resided and worked at 18 Melbury Road in Holland Park.[9]

King Edward VII appointed Hunt to the Order of Merit in 1905.[10][3]

What the cited sources add

The English Heritage plaque at 18 Melbury Road notes that Hunt completed his final work, The Lady of Shalott, while living there.[11] The plaque also states that Hunt's widow Edith still occupied the house when the plaque was installed in 1923.[11] The historyofart.org account states that Hunt's first work to feature symbolic realism, The Hireling Shepherd, was bought by Manchester Art Gallery in 1852.[3] The same source notes that Hunt gave up painting as his eyesight failed and he could not achieve his previous standards.[3]

The BBC drama Desperate Romantics featured Rafe Spall playing the role of Hunt.[12][13]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Judith Bronkhurst, 'Hunt, William Holman (1827–1910)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bronkhurst, "Hunt, William Holman (1827–1910), painter", 2004 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. "William Holman Hunt Biography", www.thehistoryofart.org. facts only, no text reused. thehistoryofart.org
  4. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "William Holman Hunt Biography", www.thehistoryofart.org; Amor, "William Holman Hunt: the True Pre-Raphaelite", Constable, 1989, p. 14–15 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jess Waugh (compiler), "Tomb of Fanny Waugh Hunt (There are several pictures of it if you scroll down the page.)", Pre-Rafaelite Tombs at the English Cemetery in Florence, 31 March 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Jess Waugh (compiler), "Tomb of Fanny Waugh Hunt (There are several pictures of it if you scroll down the page.)", Pre-Rafaelite Tombs at the English Cemetery in Florence, 31 March 2013. facts only, no text reused. jessewaugh.com
  7. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brian Bouchard (compiler), "William Holman Hunt (1827–1910)", Pre-Raphaelite artist and his connections to Ewell, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hunt, W.H., Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; London: Macmillan; 1905, Vol. 1, p. 349 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Banerjee, "The Home and Studio of William Holman Hunt in Holland Park", The Victorian Web; "W. Holman Hunt, 18 Melbury Road, Kensington, W., to [Sir Edward] Poynter", RA Collection: Archive, 7 January 1906 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Holman-Hunt, William, O.M. (1827–1910)", English Heritage (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. "Holman-Hunt, William, O.M. (1827–1910)", English Heritage. facts only, no text reused. english-heritage.org.uk
  12. Wikipedia, "William Holman Hunt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: BBC, BBC Drama Production presents Desperate Romantics for BBC Two (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. BBC, BBC Drama Production presents Desperate Romantics for BBC Two. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article William Holman Hunt (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In which place was William Holman Hunt born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Cheapside, London, England.

2. In what year did William Holman Hunt die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1910.

From the source: “He died on 7 September 1910 and was buried at St Paul's Cathedral in London.”

3. In what year was William Holman Hunt born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1827.

From the source: “thumb|Our English Coasts, 1852 ('Strayed Sheep') thumb|upright|Hunt in his eastern dress, photo by Julia Margaret Cameron thumb|upright|The Awakening Conscience (1853) William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English pai”

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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