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William Holman Hunt

Born: London, 2 April 1827
Died: London, 7 September 1910
Nationality: English
Studies: 

drawing lessons at a mechanics' institute (1839-43, London); Royal Academy (RA) schools (1843

Career: 

1839-43 - works as office clerk

1846 - exhibition debut, at British Institution, with Little Nell and her Grandfather (Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield; Dickens subject)

1848 - founding member of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) with John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti

1849 - exhibits Rienzi Vowing to Obtain Justice for the Death of his Younger Brother, Slain in a Skirmish between the Colonna and Orsini Factions at RA; only painting with monogram PRB

1853 - completes Light of the World, the most frequently reproduced Protestant painting of the 19th century

1860 - The Finding of the Savior in the Temple sold to Ernest Gambert for a record £5500

1886 - one-man exhbition at Fine Arts Society (London); publishes first articles on Pre-Raphaelites, in Contemporary Review

many of Hunt's paintings were engraved and sold as prints

 

Travels

Egypt and the Holy Land, Crimea (1854-56); Jeursalem (1869-72, 1875, 1892)

 

Important Artworks: 

Flight of Madeline and Porphyro during the Drunkenness Attending the Revelry, 1848

Rienzi Vowing to Obtain Justice for the Death of his Younger Brother, Slain in a Skirmish between the Colonna and Orsini Factions, 1849 RA (private collection)

A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids, 1850 RA (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)

Light of the World, 1851-53 (Keble College, Oxford, UK)

The Scapegoat, 1854-55 (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, UK)

The Finding of the Savior in the Temple, 1854-60 (Birmingham Art Gallery, UK)

Shadow of Death, 1870-73 (Manchester Art Gallery, UK)

Web Resources

Metmuseum: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood