A Graduate of Pomona
William Henry Hunt, The Narcotic, dated and exhibited 1839
The Narcotic
Currently untraced
Watercolor and bodycolor with scratching out
8 X 9 inches, 20.32 X 22.86 cm
Signed and dated, l.r., W. Hunt 1839
Provenance:
(S) Sotheby's 10 July 1986, Lot 170 (as The Lesson) (P) £2,000*, $3,228;
(S) Bonhams, Knightsbridge, London, London, 22 March 2016, Lot 23 (as The Lesson) (P) £2,125, $3,005.
Exhibited:
1839, London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, Spring Exhibition, No. 325 (The Narcotic).
Since records exist regarding the titles of the watercolors exhibited at the annual watercolor exhibitions in London, it is tempting to try matching watercolors by the artist which turn up nameless (without a title on the frame or written on the back, or perhaps with a name passed down through the owner's family) with one of the listed names from the exhibitions. The dangers of using logic to deduce such titles was made evident when this painting (showing the artist's favorite model, John Swain) was consigned for sale to a major London auction house in 1986. Since the watercolor bore the date 1839, It was catalogued as being the watercolor Hunt exhibited that year as No. 278, The Lesson. Right year, but wrong name. A published review of the opening of the 1839 exhibition in a London newspaper describes a watercolor by Hunt showing a boy yawning over an open book. It also identifies the correct title: The Narcotic.
A comparison of the photographs in the 1986 and 2016 exhibition catalogues reveals that sometime over those 30 years this watercolor suffered damage in the form of small pigment losses in the upper right portion of the background. Such damage is usually caused by breaking glass when framed watercolors fall to the ground.
William Henry Hunt, The Narcotic, dated and exhibited 1839
The Narcotic
Currently untraced
Watercolor and bodycolor with scratching out
8 X 9 inches, 20.32 X 22.86 cm
Signed and dated, l.r., W. Hunt 1839
Provenance:
(S) Sotheby's 10 July 1986, Lot 170 (as The Lesson) (P) £2,000*, $3,228;
(S) Bonhams, Knightsbridge, London, London, 22 March 2016, Lot 23 (as The Lesson) (P) £2,125, $3,005.
Exhibited:
1839, London, Society of Painters in Water-colours, Spring Exhibition, No. 325 (The Narcotic).
Since records exist regarding the titles of the watercolors exhibited at the annual watercolor exhibitions in London, it is tempting to try matching watercolors by the artist which turn up nameless (without a title on the frame or written on the back, or perhaps with a name passed down through the owner's family) with one of the listed names from the exhibitions. The dangers of using logic to deduce such titles was made evident when this painting (showing the artist's favorite model, John Swain) was consigned for sale to a major London auction house in 1986. Since the watercolor bore the date 1839, It was catalogued as being the watercolor Hunt exhibited that year as No. 278, The Lesson. Right year, but wrong name. A published review of the opening of the 1839 exhibition in a London newspaper describes a watercolor by Hunt showing a boy yawning over an open book. It also identifies the correct title: The Narcotic.
A comparison of the photographs in the 1986 and 2016 exhibition catalogues reveals that sometime over those 30 years this watercolor suffered damage in the form of small pigment losses in the upper right portion of the background. Such damage is usually caused by breaking glass when framed watercolors fall to the ground.