William Holman Hunt

{"Id":914,"Name":"William Holman Hunt","Biography":"\u003Ccenter\u003E\u003Cb\u003EWilliam Holman Hunt\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eby Paul Ripley\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003C/center\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EHunt, a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was born in London, the son of a warehouse manager. Throughout his life he was a devout Christian. He was also serious minded, \u0026 lacking in a sense of humour. Hunt joined the Royal Academy Schools in 1844, where he met Millais \u0026 Rossetti, \u0026, in fact brought them together. In 1854 Hunt decided to visit the Holy Land, to see for himself the genuine background for the religious pictures he intended to paint. The first tangible results of this journey were two paintings, \u0026ldquo;The Scapegoat,\u0026rsquo; \u0026 ( \u0026lsquo; The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple,\u0026rsquo; which was exhibited nationally to great acclaim in 1860, \u0026 sold for the sum of 5,500 guineas, Hunt was advised on the price by Charles Dickens.) This sale, which included the copyright established the painter both financially, \u0026 artisticly. Hunt\u0026rsquo;s famous picture \u0026lsquo;The Light of the World,\u0026rsquo; was one of the greatest Christian images of the 19th \u0026 early 20th centuries. Hunt worked at night on this picture, in an unheated shelter in a wood near Ewell in Surrey.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E Hunt did not have the natural talent of Millais, or the intellect \u0026 vision of Rossetti. He made up for this by sheer hard work \u0026 commitment. He could have been a very successful portrait painter had he chosen to be so. In later years, as his sight started to fail, perhaps, his colours became increasingly harsh. He was still capable of great things, however, as shown by his wonderful late picture \u0026lsquo;The Lady of Shallott, surely one of the most powerful Pre-Raphaelite images. \u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIn his last years Hunt became the patriach of Victorian painting. He was awarded the Order of Merit by King Edward VII in 1905. Hunt married firstly Fanny Waugh, \u0026 after her death in childbirth her younger sister Edith. He was also a far more attractive personality than is generally supposed, with a wide range of interests, which included horse racing \u0026 boxing. He died in 1910.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E Source: \u003Ca href=\u0022http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EVictorian Art in Britain\u003C/a\u003E.\u003Cp\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":false,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":true,"HasLetters":true,"HasLibraryItems":true,"HasProducts":true,"HasSignatures":false,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":71}