An Appreciation:
​William Holman Hunt

William Holman Hunt, self-portrait

 The third member of the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Holman Hunt remained the most true to the group's original style throughout his career. Heavily criticized at first, by the end of his career, Hunt was honored by the art establishment.

Hunt was born into a working-class family in London on April 2, 1827. His father managed a warehouse in Cheapside. His mother, Sarah Hobman, reportedly was from a wealthy background but had married beneath her socially and economically. To mark this connection, William was given the name “Hobman” as a middle name but it became “Holman” due to a clerical error on his baptismal certificate.

Young William spent much of his free-time reading the Bible, a study which had a clear influence on his life and career. Although he aspired to become an artist, his parents were reluctant to have him pursue such a career. Instead, he went to work at age 12 as an office clerk.

Five years later in 1844, after studying informally with a portrait artist, Hunt was finally able to persuade his parents to let him enroll at the Royal Academy's school. However, he soon became skeptical both of the way art was taught and the academic ideal of art. He found himself gravitating towards two other like-minded students, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three were interested in developing a new style of art which relied on brighter colors and detailed observation. Caught up in the Victorian nostalgia for what was perceived as the romance of Medieval times, their subjects were often drawn from popular legends, poems and the works of Shakespeare. Together, they founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB).

The ideas of the PRB were influenced by the writings of the popular art critic and historian John Ruskin. Ruskin, in turn, championed the work of the PRB artists. While the other two artists eventually fell out with Ruskin, Hunt acknowledged Ruskin's influence late into his career.

The PRB was not immediately embraced by the public or the art world. Hunt, in particular, drew fire from the critics. The group held exhibitions in 1849 and 1850.

Several other artists joined with the three original artists but within five years of the PRB's founding, Millais and Rossetti were beginning to explore new styles. Hunt remained the most true to the PRB style throughout his career. He also remained friends with Millais, wearing a signet ring that Millais gave him until the end of his life.

Returning to his roots, Hunt found inspiration in religious subjects. At the 1850 exhibition at the Royal Academy, he sold “A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids.” Two years later, he had success with “The Hireling Shepard” and in 1853, he produced a masterpiece “The Light of the World.”

Consistent with the PRB's devotion to producing art that was true to nature, Hunt left England in 1854 for the Holy Land. There, he studied the places where the events described in the Bible took place. During his two year stay, among the works, Hunt produced was “The Scapegoat”in which Hunt used observations he had made in the area around the Dead Sea to depict an Old Testament practice.

Hunt returned from the Holy Land with a long, full beard, giving him the look of a Biblical prophet. He would return to the Holy Land several more times and took up residence in Jerusalem for several years.

In addition to depicting Bible stories, Hunt did a number of pictures reflecting Victorian morality. For example, in “The Awakening Conscience” he depicts a young woman realizing the sinful nature of her life as her lecherous lover grabs her from behind. However, like his two Pre-Raphaelite brothers, Hunt's life was not free from scandal. In 1866, he married Fanny Waugh but she died of milliary fever shortly after giving birth to a child while the couple was en route to the Holy Land. In 1877, Hunt married Fanny's sister Edith. At the time, marrying your deceased wife's sister was considered incest in England and was prohibited by law. Therefore, the couple had to be married overseas.

In the mid-1970s, Hunt stopped exhibiting at the Royal Academy, preferring to exhibit at smaller galleries. He was also critical of the Royal Academy's restrictive exhibition practices. In sharp contrast, his friend Millais was on the way to becoming President of the Royal Academy.

Like some of the second wave of Pre-Raphaelites such as William Morris, Hunt became interested in displaying fine art along with decorative art. Therefore, along with Ford Maddox Brown, Hunt formed the Arts and Crafts Exhibiting Society in 1886.

That same year, there was a retrospective exhibition of Hunt's work. Also, a series of articles on the Pre-Raphaelites stirred interest in Hunt's work.

Towards the close of the century, Hunt's eyesight and health deteriorated. This led to a reduction in his artistic output.

In 1905, Hunt was awarded the Order of Merit and an honorary degree from Oxford University. To mark the occasion of Hunt's 80th birthday in 1907, a group of benefactors purchased his painting “The Ship” and presented it to the Tate Gallery. Hunt died in 1910 and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

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Above: One of Hunt's early masterpieces: "The Light of the World."
Below: "The Awakening Conscience", Victorian moralizing.

​Above: "The Scapegoat".

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Above: Fanny (left) and Edith (right) Waugh.  Both sisters married Hunt.

"The Ship" (above) and "The Lady of Shalot" below. 

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Artist appreciation - William Holman Hunt