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Commentary by Dennis T. Lanigan

Wynfield has chosen to pose Hunt in the manner of Holbein, full-face in Tudor costume with a cap on his head. Waggoner has remarked about this image: "In Wynfield's portrait of Hunt, the sitter's facial features are clear, if not sharp; the texture of his beard is somewhat less distinct. The hazy background, composed of rich, dark tones, delicately sets off Hunt's visage, which is illuminated from the right" (Waggoner 96).

Wynfield later photographed Hunt in contemporary dress, likely some time in the 1870s, one of the few English artists he chose to portray in that manner, similar to the way he portrayed foreign artists like Edward Manet, Alphonse Legros, and the American sculptor William Wetmore Story. Hunt was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the only one to remain true to its founding principles. An outsider artist, Hunt was never elected to the Royal Academy but he became one of the most well known English artists of the nineteenth century. In 1869 he was elected an Associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours and he became a full member in 1887. In 1905 he was awarded the Order of Merit and given an honorary D.C.L. by Oxford University.

Bibliography

Hacking, Juliet. Princes of Victorian Bohemia. London: Prestel, 2000. 70-71.

Marsh, Jan. The Pre-Raphaelite Circle. London: National Portrait Gallery Publications, 2013 (see p. 29).

Waggoner, Diane. The Pre-Raphaelite Lens. British Photography and Painting, 1848-1875. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2010.

"William Holman-Hunt." National Portrait Gallery, London. Web. 14 December 2023.

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Created 17 January 2022

Commentary added 14 December 2023.