Constructed Naturalism in the Watercolors of William Henry Hunt

Abstract

Over his long career as an artist, William Henry Hunt (1790-1864) produced a large number of watercolors depicting a wide variety of subjects. Among the forty works by Hunt in the collection of the Huntington Art Gallery are examples of the landscapes painted by the artist early in his career, of the figure compositions which later brought Hunt public attention and acclaim, and of the highly detailed still lifes to which he devoted his last working years. Unlike most other representative collections of the artist's watercolors, however, the Huntington group contains two rare sheets of preparatory sketches' by the artist (figs. 1 and 4) which depict dogs in various poses. In order to understand why such sketches are unexpected in the artist's oeuvre and how they help to reveal Hunt's artistic personality, it is first necessary to know something of the artist's characteristic working methods and attitudes about art. The unique qualities of Hunt's watercolors arise from the artist's general approach toward his subjects, an approach founded upon a total dedication to the accurate representation of people and objects. His customary practice was to begin and finish his work on a single sheet of paper. After first very roughly penciling in the outline of his subject,2 he would then systematically apply watercolor until the composition was complete. While such a working method was hardly unique among watercolor painters, Hunt, unlike his contemporaries, insisted on always having before him as he worked all persons and objects to be painted, arranged just as they were to appear in the final watercolor.