Attrib. William Henry Hunt OWS, Fruit Still Life – Mid-19th-century watercolour painting

Attrib. William Henry Hunt OWS Fruit Still Life

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An original mid-19th-century watercolour painting – Attrib. William Henry Hunt OWS, Fruit Still Life.

A sumptuous nature still life featuring plums, apples, cobnuts and a pear.

William Henry Hunt OWS (1790–1864) was greatly admired for his still life compositions. He was particularly fond of depicting birds' nests, earning him the nickname ‘Bird’s Nest Hunt’. He tended to paint these works in his studio, working from carefully selected specimens of fruit, flowers and nests arranged on freshly dug turf, moss and leaves; the composition was then maintained until the painting was finished. Hunt attended especially to the illusion of the surface qualities of his objects, while his approach to the background remained more suggestive.

The style and handling of paint in the present painting, executed with an artful combination of loose flair and detailed stippling, is very similar to Hunt. Whilst he customarily sign his works 'W. HUNT', the handwriting here is neater than Hunt's usual signature. The assignation was possibly added subsequently by a different hand.

in watercolour with gum arabic on artist's board.

William Henry Hunt OWS (1790–1864)

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.