A Graduate of Pomona
William Henry Hunt, Still Life of Grapes and a Pomegranate, c. 1855
Still Life of Grapes and a Pomegranate
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, No. 310/48
Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic
8 1/2 X 11 in., 21 X 28.5 cm.
Provenance:
G. H. Smythe, by whom bequeathed to the Leamington Spa Art Gallery in 1948.
At first glance, one might think that this is a photograph of the Minneapolis Art Institute's still life without its mount, but we know that the watercolor in Minnesota was painted in the shape of an oval. Although the bunch of grapes and pomegranate are virtually identical in both watercolors, the colors in this rectangular version appear to be fresher and less faded. The biggest differences are found in the less important details, - the purple or black grape which was added at the left, where it would have been outside the oval in the other piece, and the nuts on the right, which were not present in the Minneapolis watercolor.
Hunt rarely made replicas of his still life watercolors, probably because potential buyers were satisfied with a similar watercolor of the same basic size and similar combinations of fruit while someone who liked a particular subject matter in a figure painting would be more desirous of a replica of the very painting which caught their eye. Another example of almost identical still life watercolors by Hunt can be found with a bird's nest and flowers which exists in versions in the Birmingham City Art Gallery and the collection of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England.
William Henry Hunt, Still Life of Grapes and a Pomegranate, c. 1855
Still Life of Grapes and a Pomegranate
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, No. 310/48
Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic
8 1/2 X 11 in., 21 X 28.5 cm.
Provenance:
G. H. Smythe, by whom bequeathed to the Leamington Spa Art Gallery in 1948.
At first glance, one might think that this is a photograph of the Minneapolis Art Institute's still life without its mount, but we know that the watercolor in Minnesota was painted in the shape of an oval. Although the bunch of grapes and pomegranate are virtually identical in both watercolors, the colors in this rectangular version appear to be fresher and less faded. The biggest differences are found in the less important details, - the purple or black grape which was added at the left, where it would have been outside the oval in the other piece, and the nuts on the right, which were not present in the Minneapolis watercolor.
Hunt rarely made replicas of his still life watercolors, probably because potential buyers were satisfied with a similar watercolor of the same basic size and similar combinations of fruit while someone who liked a particular subject matter in a figure painting would be more desirous of a replica of the very painting which caught their eye. Another example of almost identical still life watercolors by Hunt can be found with a bird's nest and flowers which exists in versions in the Birmingham City Art Gallery and the collection of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England.