Currently not on view
Quinces and haws,
ca. 1850
William Henry Hunt, 1790–1864; born and died London, England
x1992-104
Hunt’s refined still lifes provide a bridge between British landscape watercolorists like David Cox and the mid-nineteenth-century Victorian Pre-Raphaelites, whose works convey their passion for highly finished detail. Using a technique of his own invention, Hunt applied small touches of watercolor over impasto strokes of white gouache to produce sparkling images of remarkable verisimilitude. Hunt’s still lives of natural subjects were especially admired by the French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire when they were shown in the Paris Salon of 1855, and by the British artist and educator John Ruskin, who lavishly praised them in his influential book Elements of Drawing, published in 1857.
Information
Title
Quinces and haws
Dates
ca. 1850
Maker
Medium
Watercolor
Dimensions
sight: 26.1 × 31 cm (10 1/4 × 12 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Surdna Fund
Object Number
x1992-104
Signatures
Signed, lower left: W. Hunt
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Robert Wade, London for whom it was made; presumably sold at Christie’s 9 Mar. 1872, lot ?; W.E. Sibeth; sale Christie’s 29 Mar 1884, lot 69, as Three Quinces and Hips (See reference Bib. 4810); James Orrock; T. G. Carmichael (until 1902); sale Chritie's London February 28-March 3, 1930, lot 30; Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York (their number HA 6432);
-
John Ruskin, Notes by Mr. Ruskin on Samuel Prout and William Hunt: an illustration of a loan collection of drawings exhibited at the Fine art society's galleries, 148 New Bond Street, 1879-80, (London: Fine Art Society, 1879?).
, no. 131 - Water-colour drawings of W. Edmund Sibeth, (London: Christie, Manson, & Woods, 1884). , lot 69
- Royal jubilee exhibition, Manchester 1887: official catalogue, (Manchester: J. Heywood, 1887). , p. 363, no. 1704
- Victorian era exhibition, 1897, Earl's Court, London, S.W: Catalogue, fine art sections, (London: Riddle & Couchman, 1897). , no. 5
- "Bird's Nest" Hunt and his followers: William Henry Hunt (1790-1864), John Sherrin (1819-1896), William Hough (active 1857-1894), Thomas Collier (1840-1891): December 9, 1986-January 10, 1987, (New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1986). , no. 10
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1992," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 52, no. 1 (1993): p. 36-83., p. 74
