William Henry Hunt OWS (1790–1864) was born at 8 Old Belton Street (now Endell Street), London. Due to his having deformed legs and stunted growth, Hunt's parents encouraged a career in art, and aged sixteen he was apprenticed to John Varley. He remained with Varley for fives years, during which time he made friends with William Mulready and John Linnell, and he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. He spent a short time at the Royal Academy Schools, after which he was employed at the Monro Academy, of which Girtin, Turner and Varley were early members.
After an early association with the Society of Painters in Water Colours, he became an associate in 1824 and a full member in 1826. By this time Hunt was turned to genre scenes and still life compositions. From 1830, when he first exhibited a nature still life featuring a bird's nest, he earned special notice for his accuracy and fine detail in this subject—so much so that he acquired the nickname 'Bird's Nest' Hunt. Around this time he also developed his innovative watercolour technique, applying colour over a ground of Chinese white, rather than mixing the two as had hitherto been practised.
Hunt's work was popular and celebrated during his lifetime, helped by the advocacy of John Ruskin, whom Hunt taught for a time between 1854 and 1861. His international reputation developed too; he was awarded a certificate of merit at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855 and became an honorary member of the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 1856.
His work can be found in numerous public collections, including the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Yale Center for British Art.
