Who was William Holman Hunt?
Painter.
Date and Place of Birth:
2nd April 1827, Cheapside, London, England. unt
changed his middle name from "Hobman" to Holman when he
found that a clerk had misspelled his name at his baptism at the
church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Ewell.
Family Background:
Son of William Hunt, a
warehousman and Sarah Hobman. (Hunt changed Hobman to Holman as
a result of a clerical error on his parent's Marriage Certificate).
Education:
Entered Royal Academy Schools at the third attempt
after working as office clerk.
1839-43: Took drawing classes at the Mechanic's Institute.
Chronology/Biography of William Holman Hunt:
1839: Starts
work as an office clerk.
1843:
Unsuccessfully applies for a place at the Royal Academy school.
1844:
Wins place at Royal Academy School.
1846:
Exhibits his painting "Little Nell and her Grandfathe"r
at the British Institution, and at the RA.
1848:
Paints "The Eve of St Agnes". Forms the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood in September with Dante Gabriel
Rossetti and John Everett Millais.
1849: Hunt travels
to France and Belgium with Rossetti. Paints "Rienzi Vowing
to Obtain Justice".
1853: Paints the
"The Awakening Conscience".
1854: Goes to meet
Thomas Seddon in Egypt. Paints "The Light of the World and
The Awakening Conscience".
1856: Returns from
the Holy Land. Refuses to be elected as an Associate of the Royal
Academy. Paints "the Scapegoat".
1857: Hunt, Rossetti
and Millais illustrate a volume of
Tennyson's poems for Edward Moxon.
1858: Forms the Hogarth
Club with others.
1860: Paints "The
Finding of the Saviour in the Temple" his first major biblical
work.
1863: Paints "The
Afterglow in Eygpt".
1866: Fanny and Hunt
leave on a trip to the East. First son born on 26th October.Fanny
contracts a fever and dies on 20 December.
1867: Hunt goes back
to England. Paints "Isabella and the Pot of Basil"
1868: Takes a trip
to Florence in June to work on a memorial to Fanny.
1869: Arrives in
Jerusalem on 31 August.
1872: Arrives back
in England in July.
1875: After a marriage
to his Sister in Law, Edith Waugh they travel to Jerusalem.
1876: Birth of a
daughter Gladys Millais Mulock on 20 September .
1878: The family
return to London in April.
1883: Finishes "The
Triumph of the Innocents" which was begun in 1879.
1886: Begins painting
"The Lady of Shalott".
1892: Pays a visit
to the Middle East for the last time.
1905: Hunt is awarded
the Order of Merit from King Edward VII and an honorary Doctorate
by Oxford University. He publishes "Pre-Raphaelitism and the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood".
Paintings:
The Triumph of the Innocents. (Tate Britain,
London)
The Light of the World (Chapel at Keble College,
Oxford)
The Hireling Shepherd and the Luight of the World.
(St Paul's Cathedral London)
Marriage:
1. 1865 to Fanny Waugh. Dies 1866.
2. 1875 to his former wife's sister Edith Waugh.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
Tate Britain
Date and Place of Death:
7th September 1912, London, England.
Age at Death:
73.
Site of Grave:
St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, England.
St Paul's Cathedral, London
(© Anthony Blagg)
