William Henry Hunt, Boy with Pitcher, dated 1833, exhibited 1834

Boy with Pitcher

Private collection

Watercolor and gum arabic with scratching out

10 3/4 X 6 3/4 in., 27.4 X 17.2 cm.

Signed and dated, l.l., W. HUNT 1833

 

Provenance:

Probably: Charles Hawker (dealer) (S) 25 May 1859 (P) £31 10s. Joseph Gillot;

Joseph Gillot (S) Christie's, London, 4 May 1872, Lot 451 (P) 90 gns. Vokins;

(S) Christie's London, 21 April 1899, Lot (A Boy with a Pitcher, 10 1/4 X 7 in. (P) £84 Arthur Tooth & Sons (London dealer), (S) 21 Nov 1899, Inv. 914 (P) £88 11s. Lewis;

(S) Christie's London, 22 March 1988, Lot 158 [as Boy seated on a bench with a pitcher] (P) £14,000, $25,610 David James (London dealer);

(S) Christie's London, 5 June 2007, Lot 138 [as Portrait of one of the Swain brothers holding a pitcher] (P) £19,200, $38,027 by the present owner.

 

Exhibited:

1834, London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, No. 323.

 

The catalog for the 1988 sale at Christie's erroneously states that the watercolor is dated 1839. The catalog for the 2007 sale at Christie's incorrectly identifies the date as 1833.

 

For some reason, this does not seem to be a picture of a peasant boy such as those shown in most of William Henry Hunt's figurative watercolors from this period. When this watercolor was last sold at auction, the catalogue identified the sitter as one of the Swain brothers, and, if that were true, it would have to be William Swain at about age 10. Perhaps the boy is wearing his Sunday best, but the overall impression is that this boy was from a family of greater means than the Swains of Hastings. But, other than the fact that Hunt was using the Swain boys as models when at Hastings in this time period, there is really no reason to believe that this particular painting actually shows William Swain. His features are somewhat reminiscent of the boy in A Westminster Scholar from 1827, but he cannot be the same model, who would be considerably older than this boy appears in 1834.

 

Regardless of who modeled for Hunt, this is one of his finest figure paintings from the mid-1830s, as well as one of the best preserved. The subtile depiction of light, which never could have been achieved with an ink pen and colored washes applied by brushes, is achieved by very fine stippling. The dark background, which allows the viewer to focus on just the illuminated parts of the composition, was probably painted with gum arabic. Such neutral, dark backgrounds are frequently seen in the still life watercolors Hunt painted around this same time, but they are not used in many of his figure paintings other than his candlelight scenes.

 

 

 

Done