William Henry Hunt, Bird's Nest and Primroses (c. 1860)

Bird's Nest and Primroses

Private Collection

Watercolor and bodycolor with scratching out

11 X 14 inches, 27.94 X 35.56 cm

Signed, l.r., W. Hunt

 

 

Provenance:

(S) Christie's South Kensington, 5 July 2006, Lot 705 (P) £3,600* $6,666* Chris Beetles, Ltd. (London dealer);

(S) Chris Beetles, Ltd., 2010 (P) by the present owner.

 

 

This is a later watercolor than the other of the same subject which I previously posted. The background is much more highly worked up, which unifies the whole composition - the primrose plant and bird's nest do not look quite so "posed" or isolated from each other by the hand of man (or a man, named Hunt).

 

Hunt continued to perfect his techniques until the very end of his life, and his late still lifes are among his most accomplished works. This example gives a better idea of how his watercolors must have appeared as new, without the fading which is almost present after 150 or more years of exposure to light. When this Bird's Nest was sold at an auction house in Canterbury, England several years ago, it was stated in the catalogue entry that it had been kept in a folio and therefore was in exemplary condition. Not only is this fact obvious from the bright colors, but also in the dirt foreground. Each bit of dirt still shows the artist's surely placed brush strokes and the appearance is much more interesting than in Hunt still lifes which are even somewhat faded. Typicially these dirt stages on which Hunt composed his still life compositions are more uniform in texture due to the losses from fading

 

 

 

Done