View source for William Holman Hunt

{{short description|Pre-Raphaelite English artist (1827–1910)}}
{{Redirect|W. H. Hunt|people with similar names|William Hunt (disambiguation){{!}}William Hunt}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = William Holman Hunt
| image              = William Holman Hunt - Selfportrait.jpg
| caption            = ''Self-portrait'', 1867, {{Lang|it|[[Uffizi|Galleria degli Uffizi]]|italic=no}}, Florence
| birth_name         = William Hobman Hunt
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1827|4|2}}
| birth_place        = Cheapside, London, England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1910|9|7|1827|4|2}}
| death_place        = London, England
| occupation         = Painter
| movement           = [[Orientalism|Orientalist]]; [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelites]]
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* Fanny Waugh
* Edith Waugh
}}
| signature          = Holman Hunt signature.jpg
}}
[[File:William Holman Hunt - Our English Coasts, 1852 (`Strayed Sheep') - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|250px|''[[Our English Coasts, 1852 ('Strayed Sheep')]]'']]
[[File:William Holman Hunt in his Eastern Dress, by Julia Margaret Cameron.jpg|thumb|Hunt in his eastern dress, photo by [[Julia Margaret Cameron]]]]
[[File:Hunt-AwakeningConscience1853.jpg|thumb|''[[The Awakening Conscience]]'' (1853)]]
'''William Holman Hunt''' {{Post-nominals|post-noms=[[Order of Merit|OM]]}} (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an [[English painter]] and one of the founders of the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]].  His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism.  These features were influenced by the writings of [[John Ruskin]] and [[Thomas Carlyle]], according to whom the world itself should be read as a system of visual signs.  For Hunt it was the duty of the artist to reveal the correspondence between sign and fact.  Of all the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Hunt remained most true to their ideals throughout his career.  He was always keen to maximise the popular appeal and public visibility of his works.<ref>Judith Bronkhurst, 'Hunt, William Holman (1827–1910)', [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]], Oxford University Press, 2004</ref>

==Biography==
'''William Hobman Hunt''' was born in [[Cheapside]], [[City of London]], to warehouse manager William Hunt (1800–1856) and Sarah ({{circa|1798}}–1884), daughter of William Hobman, of [[Rotherhithe]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34058|title=Hunt, William Holman (1827–1910), painter|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/34058|last1=Bronkhurst|first1=Judith}}</ref> Hunt adopted the name "Holman" instead of "Hobman" when he discovered that a clerk had misspelled the name that way after his baptism at the [[Anglican]] church of [[St Mary's Church, Ewell|Saint Mary the Virgin, Ewell]]. The Hobman family were wealthy, and it was thought that Sarah had made an unequal marriage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehistoryofart.org/william-holman-hunt/biography/|title=William Holman Hunt Biography|website=www.thehistoryofart.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Amor |first=Anne Clark |title=William Holman Hunt: the True Pre-Raphaelite |publisher=Constable |location=London |year=1989 |pages=14–15 |isbn=0094687706 }}</ref> After eventually entering the [[Royal Academy]] art schools, having initially been rejected, Hunt rebelled against the influence of its founder [[Joshua Reynolds|Sir Joshua Reynolds]]. He formed the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] movement in 1848, after meeting the poet and artist [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]]. Along with [[John Everett Millais]] they sought to revitalise art by emphasising the detailed observation of the natural world in a spirit of quasi-religious devotion to truth. This religious approach was influenced by the spiritual qualities of [[medieval art]], in opposition to the alleged rationalism of the [[Renaissance]] embodied by [[Raffaello Santi|Raphael]]. He had many pupils including [[Robert Braithwaite Martineau]].

Hunt married twice. After a failed engagement to his model [[Annie Miller]], in 1861 he married Fanny Waugh, who later modelled for the figure of ''Isabella''. When, at the end of 1866, she died in childbirth in Italy, he sculpted her tomb at [[Fiesole]], having it brought down to the [[English Cemetery, Florence|English Cemetery]] in [[Florence]], beside the tomb of [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]].<ref name=FanWauHuntgravepix>{{cite web|url=https://www.jessewaugh.com/blog/2013/3/31/pre-rafaelite-tombs-at-the-english-cemetery-in-florence|title=Tomb of Fanny Waugh Hunt (''There are several pictures of it if you scroll down the page.'')|work=Pre-Rafaelite Tombs at the English Cemetery in Florence|author=Jess Waugh (compiler)|date=31 March 2013|publisher=Jess Waugh Ltd., NY|access-date=9 June 2019}}</ref> He had a close connection with [[St Mark's English Church, Florence|St. Mark's Church in Florence]], and paid for the [[Chalice|communion chalice]] inscribed in memory of his wife. His second wife, Edith, was Fanny's youngest sister. At the time it was illegal in Great Britain [[Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907|to marry one's deceased wife's sister]], so the two of them travelled abroad and married at [[Neuchâtel]] (in [[Romandy|francophone]] Switzerland) in November 1875.<!---they seem to have become engaged in 1873 which some sources give as their marriage year.  I find 1875 more plausible, however ... ---><ref name=2emeMariageselonBB>{{cite web|title=William Holman Hunt (1827–1910)|work=Pre-Raphaelite artist and his connections to Ewell| url= http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/HolmanHunt.html |author=Brian Bouchard (compiler)|date=2011|publisher=Epsom and Ewell Local and Family History Centre| access-date=9 June 2019}}</ref> This led to a grave conflict with other family members, notably his former Pre-Raphaelite colleague [[Thomas Woolner]], who had once been in love with Fanny and had married the middle sister, Alice Waugh.

Hunt's works were not initially successful, and were widely attacked in the art press for their alleged clumsiness and ugliness.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} He achieved some early note for his intensely naturalistic scenes of modern rural and urban life, such as ''[[The Hireling Shepherd]]'' and ''[[The Awakening Conscience]]''. However, it was for his religious paintings that he became famous, initially ''[[The Light of the World (Hunt)|The Light of the World]]'' (1851–1853), now in the chapel at [[Keble College, Oxford]], England; a later version (1900) toured the world and now has its home in [[St Paul's Cathedral]], London. Hunt worked at his home in Prospect Place (now [[Cheyne Walk]]), [[Chelsea, London]].<ref name="vch">{{cite web |title=Settlement and building: Artists and Chelsea Pages 102-106 A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol12/pp102-106 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 2004 |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref>

In the mid-1850s Hunt travelled to the [[Holy Land]] in search of accurate topographical and ethnographical material for further religious works, and to employ his "powers to make more tangible [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]]'s history and teaching";<ref>Hunt, W.H., ''Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood''; London: Macmillan; 1905, Vol. 1, p. 349</ref> there he painted ''[[The Scapegoat (painting)|The Scapegoat]]'', ''[[The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple]]'', and ''[[The Shadow of Death]]'', along with many landscapes of the region. Hunt also painted many works based on poems, such as ''[[Isabella, or the Pot of Basil|Isabella]]'' and ''[[The Lady of Shalott]]''. He eventually built his own house in [[Jerusalem]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://victorianweb.org/painting/whh/plates/house.html|title=William Holman Hunt's House and Studio in Jerusalem|website=victorianweb.org|access-date=11 May 2021|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227104827/http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/whh/plates/house.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He eventually had to abandon painting because failing eyesight meant that he could not achieve the quality that he wanted. His last major works, including a large version of ''[[The Light of the World (Hunt)|The Light of the World]]'' hanging in [[St Paul's Cathedral]], [[London]], were completed with the help of his assistant, [[Edward Robert Hughes]].

Holman Hunt lived and had a studio at [[18 Melbury Road]] in [[Holland Park]], West London, from 1903 until his death.<ref name="victorian-web-hunt">{{cite web| url=https://victorianweb.org/painting/whh/homes/1.html | title=The Home and Studio of William Holman Hunt in Holland Park | first=Jacqueline | last=Banerjee | work=The Victorian Web | accessdate=31 August 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/archive/w-holman-hunt-18-melbury-road-kensington-w-to-sir-edward-poynter | title=W. Holman Hunt, 18 Melbury Road, Kensington, W., to [Sir Edward] Poynter | date=7 January 1906 | publisher=[[Royal Academy of Arts]] | location=UK | work=RA Collection: Archive | number=RAA/SEC/6/27/1 | accessdate=31 August 2023 }}</ref> He died on 7 September 1910 and was buried at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] in London.

==Awards and commemoration==
Hunt published an autobiography in 1905.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/8048610 |title=Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood |access-date=20 July 2007 |archive-date=29 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929124131/http://worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/8048610%26referer%3Dbrief_results |url-status=live }}</ref> Many of his late writings are attempts to control the interpretation of his work. That year, he was appointed to the [[Order of Merit (Commonwealth)|Order of Merit]] by [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|King Edward VII]]. At the end of his life, he lived in [[Sonning]]-on-[[River Thames|Thames]]. 18 Melbury Road has a [[blue plaque]] commemorating Hunt, added in 1923.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/hunt-william-holman/ | title=Holman-Hunt, William, O.M. (1827–1910)
 | publisher=[[English Heritage]] | location=UK | accessdate=31 August 2023 }}</ref>

Hunt's personal life was the subject of [[Diana Holman-Hunt]]'s book ''My Grandfather, his Life and Loves''.<ref>{{cite book|title=British watercolours in the Victoria and Albert Museum|year = 1980|publisher = Victoria and Albert Museum|isbn = 9780856671111|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N9HqAAAAMAAJ|access-date=26 August 2014|ref=Life}}</ref>

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was depicted in two [[BBC]] [[Costume drama|period drama]]s. The first, ''[[The Love School]]'', in 1975, starred [[Bernard Lloyd]] as Hunt. The second was ''[[Desperate Romantics]]'', in which Hunt is played by [[Rafe Spall]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/08_august/07/romantics.shtml BBC] , ''BBC Drama Production presents Desperate Romantics for BBC Two''</ref>

Facing [[Mar Elias Monastery]] is a stone bench erected by the wife of the painter, who painted some of his major works at this spot. The bench is inscribed with biblical verses in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Arabic]] and [[English language|English]].

==Partial list of works==
*''Christ and the Two Marys'' (1847 and 1897)
*''[[Rienzi vowing to obtain justice for the death of his young brother, slain in a skirmish between the Colonna and the Orsini factions]]'' (1849)
*''[[A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids]]'' (1850)
*''[[The Hireling Shepherd]]'' (1851)
*''[[Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus]]'' (1851)
*''[[Our English Coasts]] ('Strayed Sheep')'' (1852)
*''[[The Awakening Conscience]]'' (1853)
*''Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at 22 Years of Age'' (1853)
*''[[The Light of the World (Hunt)|The Light of the World]]'' (1854)
*''The Lantern Maker's Courtship, A Street Scene in Cairo'' (1854–56)
*''[[The Scapegoat (painting)|The Scapegoat]]'' (1856)
*''[[The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple]]'' (1854–1860)
*''Nazareth'' (1861)
*''[[London Bridge on the Night of the Marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales]]'' (1864)
*''Portrait of Fanny Holman Hunt'' (1866–67)
*''Self portrait'' (1867)
*''[[Isabella and the Pot of Basil]]'' (1868)
*''The Birthday'' (1868)
*''[[The Shadow of Death]]'' (1873)
*''Amaryllis'' (1884)
*''May Morning on Magdalen Tower'' (1890)
*''[[The Importunate Neighbour]]'' (1895)
*''[[The Miracle of the Holy Fire (painting)|The Miracle of the Holy Fire]]'' (1899)
*''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74182 The Triumph of the Innocents]'' (1876–87) which is displayed at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
*''[[The Lady of Shalott (William Holman Hunt)|The Lady of Shalott]]'' ({{circa|1890-1905}})

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="154" heights="154" perrow="4">
File:William Holman Hunt - Christ and the two Marys - Google Art Project.jpg|''Christ and the Two Marys'' (1847 and 1897)
File:William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) - The Haunted Manor - T00932 - Tate.jpg|''[[The Haunted Manor (painting)|The Haunted Manor]]'' (1849)
File:William Holman Hunt - Rienzi vowing to obtain justice.jpg|''[[Rienzi vowing to obtain justice for the death of his young brother, slain in a skirmish between the Colonna and the Orsini factions]]'' (1849)
File:William Holman Hunt 001.jpg|''[[The Hireling Shepherd]]'' (1851)
File:William Holman Hunt - Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at 22 years of Age - Google Art Project.jpg|''Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at 22 Years of Age'' (1853)
File:William Holman Hunt - The Lantern Maker's Courtship, A Street Scene in Cairo - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Lantern Maker's Courtship, A Street Scene in Cairo'' (1854–56)
File:William Holman Hunt - The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple]]'' (1854–1860)
File:William Holman Hunt - The Scapegoat.jpg|''[[The Scapegoat (painting)|The Scapegoat]]'' (1856)
File:William Holman Hunt - Nazareth.jpg|''Nazareth'' (1861)
File:William Holman Hunt - London Bridge on the Night of the Marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales - 1864.jpg|''[[London Bridge on the Night of the Marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales]]'' (1864)
File:William Holman Hunt - Portrait of Fanny Holman Hunt.jpg|''Portrait of Fanny Holman Hunt'' (1866–67)
File:Basilpot.jpg|''[[Isabella and the Pot of Basil]]'' (1868)
File:William Holman Hunt - The Birthday.jpg|''The Birthday'' (1868)
File:William holman hunt-the shadow of death.jpg|''The Shadow of Death'' (1873)
File:William Holman Hunt - Amaryllis.jpg|''Amaryllis'' (1884)

File:The Lady of Shalott by William Holman Hunt, c. 1890-1905, oil on canvas - Wadsworth Atheneum - Hartford, CT - DSC05541.jpg|''[[The Lady of Shalott (William Holman Hunt)|The Lady of Shalott]]'' (c. 1890-1905)
File:William Holman Hunt - May Morning on Magdalen Tower.jpg|''May Morning on Magdalen Tower'' (1890)
</gallery>

==See also==
{{external media | width = 150px | float = right | headerimage=
[[File:WH Hunt - Claudio and Isabella - heads (from G Art Project).jpg|150px]] | video1 = [http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/william-holman-hunts-claudio-and-isabella.html Hunt's ''Claudio and Isabella''], [[Smarthistory]]

| video2 = [http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/hunt-the-awakening-conscience.html Hunt's ''The Awakening Conscience''], [[Smarthistory]] }}
*[[English art|English school of painting]]
*[[List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings]]
* [[List of Orientalist artists]]
* [[Orientalism]]

==References==
<references />

==Further reading==
*{{cite book
| first= George
| last= Landow
| year= 1979
| title= William Holman Hunt and Typological Symbolism
| publisher= Yale University Press
| isbn= 0-300-02196-8
| url-access= registration
| url= https://archive.org/details/williamholmanhun0000land
}}
* {{cite book
| first= Jeremy
| last= Maas
| year= 1984
| title= Holman Hunt and the Light of the World
| publisher= Ashgate
| isbn= 978-0-85967-683-0}}
* {{cite book
| first= Judith
| last= Bronkhurst
| year= 2006
| title= William Holman Hunt : A Catalogue Raisonné
| publisher= Yale University Press
| isbn= 978-0-300-10235-2}}
* {{cite book
| first= Katharine
| last= Lochnan
| year= 2008
| title= Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision
| publisher= Art Gallery of Toronto
| isbn= 978-1-894243-57-5}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{Art UK bio}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060901152103/http://www.english.uwosh.edu/roth/huntarticle.htm ''William Holman Hunt's The Scapegoat: Rite of Forgiveness/Transference of Blame'']
*[http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/artist-biography/william-holman-hunt/ Works by Holman Hunt at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007115114/http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/artist-biography/william-holman-hunt/ |date=7 October 2010 }}
*[[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.huntw|William Holman Hunt Collection.]] General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
*[https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/manchesteruniversity/data/gb133-hol Holman Hunt Manuscripts], [[John Rylands Library]], [[University of Manchester]]
*Archival Material at {{wikidata|qualifier|property|P485|Q24568958|P856|format=\[%q %p\]}}

{{William Holman Hunt|state=expanded}}
{{Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, William Holman}}
[[Category:1827 births]]
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[[Category:19th-century English painters]]
[[Category:English male painters]]
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[[Category:Artists' Rifles soldiers]]
[[Category:Burials at St Paul's Cathedral]]
[[Category:Christian artists]]
[[Category:English Christians]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Merit]]
[[Category:People from Sonning]]
[[Category:Pre-Raphaelite painters]]
[[Category:English Orientalist painters]]
[[Category:20th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:Painters of pre-1948 Palestine]]