A Graduate of Pomona
5 William Henry Hunt, A Mulatto Boy Holding a Casket , c. 1833
A Mulatto Boy Holding a Casket , c. 1833
Private collection
Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic with scratching out
10 1/2 X 7 3/4 in; 25 X 17 cm.
Provenance:
The late Ralph Bernal (S) Christie's London, 21 April 1853;
(S) Christie's London, 8 May 1855, Lot 51 [The casket bearer of Constantinople. From the Bernal Collection. 7 1/2 10 1/2 in. (P) £24 3s. Noble;
Miss E. Cochran (S) Sotheby's Belgravia, 20 June 1972, Lot 64 [as the Little Black Boy] (P) £400*, $1,085*;
(S) Sotheby's London, 15 July 1993, Lot 100 [as Negro Boy Holding a Casket] (P) £3,000*, $4,464* by the present owner.
Exhibited:
Probably 1833, London, Society of Painters in Water-Colours, No. 349, A Young Negro [purchased for 13 gns. by Mr. Bernal].
This watercolor by William Henry Hunt was once part of the famed collection of Ralph Bernal, which was sold at Christies in 1853. The sale lasted for 32 days and consisted of 4,294 lots, among which were 49 watercolors by William Hunt - the third largest collection of all time, behind that of Dr. Monro (168 early watercolors and drawings, sold in 1833) and an existing collection of Hunt watercolors. Since the Bernal sale, this painting has been known by several titles, including one that is rather humorous - The Casket Bearer of Constantinople . The dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, was apparently mistaken for the dome of Santa Sophia in Turkey by the person who chose that title.
Even though the exact subject of the painting may be unknown or even confusing, if there really is a subject matter, as such, this is one of the artist's two most successful depictions of a Black child, and undoubtedly one of the most objective paintings of Blacks and Mullattos from a century known for almost never painting anything but caricatures of any non-Caucasian subject. Another painting by Hunt which is devoid of caricature, both in appearance and the title of the work, is an image of a young Black Boy holding a mirror. This was once in the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, but it was sold as part of a museum-wide deaccession in the 1950s.
If this watercolor is inspected carefully, one sees almost a halo effect, with an area of darker blue in the sky next to the subject's hair. This was caused by the artist's scrapping of the paper beneath the hair in an attempt to give it more texture. Hunt then went back and painted in the background sky, after he had painted the hair. Some of the scraped paper extended beyond the child's head, which resulted in greater accumulation of pigment and a darker blue sky in that area. But, even if the artist was a little careless in scraping too great an area of paper, he still managed to end up with one of the finest heads he ever painted.
5 William Henry Hunt, A Mulatto Boy Holding a Casket , c. 1833
A Mulatto Boy Holding a Casket , c. 1833
Private collection
Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic with scratching out
10 1/2 X 7 3/4 in; 25 X 17 cm.
Provenance:
The late Ralph Bernal (S) Christie's London, 21 April 1853;
(S) Christie's London, 8 May 1855, Lot 51 [The casket bearer of Constantinople. From the Bernal Collection. 7 1/2 10 1/2 in. (P) £24 3s. Noble;
Miss E. Cochran (S) Sotheby's Belgravia, 20 June 1972, Lot 64 [as the Little Black Boy] (P) £400*, $1,085*;
(S) Sotheby's London, 15 July 1993, Lot 100 [as Negro Boy Holding a Casket] (P) £3,000*, $4,464* by the present owner.
Exhibited:
Probably 1833, London, Society of Painters in Water-Colours, No. 349, A Young Negro [purchased for 13 gns. by Mr. Bernal].
This watercolor by William Henry Hunt was once part of the famed collection of Ralph Bernal, which was sold at Christies in 1853. The sale lasted for 32 days and consisted of 4,294 lots, among which were 49 watercolors by William Hunt - the third largest collection of all time, behind that of Dr. Monro (168 early watercolors and drawings, sold in 1833) and an existing collection of Hunt watercolors. Since the Bernal sale, this painting has been known by several titles, including one that is rather humorous - The Casket Bearer of Constantinople . The dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, was apparently mistaken for the dome of Santa Sophia in Turkey by the person who chose that title.
Even though the exact subject of the painting may be unknown or even confusing, if there really is a subject matter, as such, this is one of the artist's two most successful depictions of a Black child, and undoubtedly one of the most objective paintings of Blacks and Mullattos from a century known for almost never painting anything but caricatures of any non-Caucasian subject. Another painting by Hunt which is devoid of caricature, both in appearance and the title of the work, is an image of a young Black Boy holding a mirror. This was once in the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, but it was sold as part of a museum-wide deaccession in the 1950s.
If this watercolor is inspected carefully, one sees almost a halo effect, with an area of darker blue in the sky next to the subject's hair. This was caused by the artist's scrapping of the paper beneath the hair in an attempt to give it more texture. Hunt then went back and painted in the background sky, after he had painted the hair. Some of the scraped paper extended beyond the child's head, which resulted in greater accumulation of pigment and a darker blue sky in that area. But, even if the artist was a little careless in scraping too great an area of paper, he still managed to end up with one of the finest heads he ever painted.