William Henry Hunt, A Seamstress, dated and exhibited 1833

A Seamstress

Currently untraced

Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic with scratching out

18 X 11 1/4, 45.5 X 28.5

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

 

Provenance:

James Orrock (S) Christie's London, 12th June 1908, Lot 51 (P) 5 gns by Marshall;

T.M.McLean (S) Christie's, 30 Jan 1909, Lot 9 (P) £6 16s.6d. Vicars (London dealer);

W. H. Lever, the First Lord Leverhulm,; by whom donated to the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, England; Accession, no. 733;

The Lady Lever Art Gallery (S) Christie's, London, 6 June 1958, Lot 61. [along with A Boy Kneeling in Prayer, Devotion] (P) £18 18s., Patoural;

(S) Christie's, 17 Nov 1959, Lot 181, (P) £12 Douglas;

(S) Sotheby's London, 30 Nov 2000, Lot 3 (P) Bought in.

 

Exhibited:

Spring 1833, London, Society of Painters in Water-Colours, no. 237

 

 

Although William Henry Hunt ostensibly painted every one of his watercolors while all people and objects shown were physically in front of the artist, posed just as they appear in the final image, this picture of a peasant girl sewing (perhaps a gipsy from Hastings, England), looks very similar to paintings of other 19th century figure painters, with Renoir's early work coming to mind, wherein the figure was painted while seated on a chair in the artist's studio with the background added almost as an afterthought, purely from the artist's imagination and experience in whipping out out unexceptional settings on demand. But how can anyone know for sure more than 100 years after the artists' death? The blues in this exceptionally well preserved watercolor are almost unique in their vividness. Hunt painted a large number of blue skies over Hastings, and I know of no other which even comes close to what must have been the original apparance as the sky in this watercolors. In fact, most of Hunt's blue skies have faded to a reddish purple, greatly altering the color balances which Hunt undoubtedly had intended.

Done