A Graduate of Pomona
A1 William Henry Hunt, Blowing Bubbles, dated 1835
With the advent of the internet, which has made images of paintings widely available to the public, it has become obvious that a great number of works misattributed to William Henry Hunt and outright forgeries said to be authentic paintings by the artist are flooding the art market.It is imossible for any one person to attempt to keep the image of Hunt's work pure and unaffected by a publlc awareness of all of these generally inferior paintings. But there are a number of clues which can help any interested viewer to sort out and dismiss images of misattributed and inauthentic paintings.
This and the following 13 images are of an authentic watercolor by Hunt from one of his peak periods and a copy, whether made without any intent to deceive or an actual forgery based on the real watercolor painted by Hunt in 1835. Even at first glance, many should be able to see the higher quality of this image (A1, for authentic, image number one) versus the simplified nature and less accomplished painting skills displayed in the copy, labeled IN1 (for inauthentic, image number one).
Fortunately, the London art market was able to sort out the real Hunt watercolor, which happened to have been sold at Sotheby's, from the inferior, inauthentic copy, which was later sold at Christie's. Of course, a casual observer who was unaware of the great difference in prices and without a close comparison of publicly available imaes, would be unlikely to see why the second watercolor was not actually by William Henry Hunt. I have selected comparable details from both paintings to use in highlighting the major differences in quality.
The first difference to note is the differences in sizes of the two paintings. This, authentic work by Hunt is smaller, i.e., a size which would be more difficult for a copyist to duplicate in watercolor.
A Boy Blowing Bubbles
Private collection
Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic with scratching out
10.8 X 6.7 in., 27.5 X 17 cm.
Signed and dated, l.r., W. HUNT 35
Provenance:
(S) Sotheby's London, 19 March 2003, Lot 151 (P) £9,000 $14,113 by the present owner.
A1 William Henry Hunt, Blowing Bubbles, dated 1835
With the advent of the internet, which has made images of paintings widely available to the public, it has become obvious that a great number of works misattributed to William Henry Hunt and outright forgeries said to be authentic paintings by the artist are flooding the art market.It is imossible for any one person to attempt to keep the image of Hunt's work pure and unaffected by a publlc awareness of all of these generally inferior paintings. But there are a number of clues which can help any interested viewer to sort out and dismiss images of misattributed and inauthentic paintings.
This and the following 13 images are of an authentic watercolor by Hunt from one of his peak periods and a copy, whether made without any intent to deceive or an actual forgery based on the real watercolor painted by Hunt in 1835. Even at first glance, many should be able to see the higher quality of this image (A1, for authentic, image number one) versus the simplified nature and less accomplished painting skills displayed in the copy, labeled IN1 (for inauthentic, image number one).
Fortunately, the London art market was able to sort out the real Hunt watercolor, which happened to have been sold at Sotheby's, from the inferior, inauthentic copy, which was later sold at Christie's. Of course, a casual observer who was unaware of the great difference in prices and without a close comparison of publicly available imaes, would be unlikely to see why the second watercolor was not actually by William Henry Hunt. I have selected comparable details from both paintings to use in highlighting the major differences in quality.
The first difference to note is the differences in sizes of the two paintings. This, authentic work by Hunt is smaller, i.e., a size which would be more difficult for a copyist to duplicate in watercolor.
A Boy Blowing Bubbles
Private collection
Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic with scratching out
10.8 X 6.7 in., 27.5 X 17 cm.
Signed and dated, l.r., W. HUNT 35
Provenance:
(S) Sotheby's London, 19 March 2003, Lot 151 (P) £9,000 $14,113 by the present owner.