A Graduate of Pomona
William Henry Hunt, Candlelight Effect, exhibited 1849
Candlelight Effect
10 1/2 X 12 3/4, 26.7 X 32.4 cm
Provenance:
(S) 1849, SPWC Spring Exhibition, No. 245 (P) 25 gns. Miss Burdette Coutts
(S) Foster's 20 March 1872, Lot 35 (P) £9 9s. 6d. Palmer
Edward S. Palmer, dealer on Duke St., London (S) Christie's 28 January 1878, Lot 307 (P) 7 gns. Crom.
F.C.A. Minoprio (S) Christie's 11 December 1886, Lot 59 (P) 5 gns. Field
(S) Christie's 10 December 1887, Lot 5 (P) 5 gns. Murray
Charles Fairfax Murray (S) Christie's 20 December 1920, Lot 25 (P) 22 gns. Agnew's
G. Moreland Agnew
Mrs. G. Moreland Agnew (S) Christie's 24 March 1933 (P) 12 gns. Permain
Miss Eithel Floersheim (S) Christie's 23 June 1950, Lot 117 (P) 35 gns. Fine Art Society
(S) Christie's 11 November 1997, Lot 131 (The Musical Conversation) (P) £6,325 $10,685
Exhibited:
1849, SPWC, No. 266, Candlelight Effect
1950, Fine Art Society (London dealer), No. 58
Literature: The Athenaeum, May 12, 1849, No. 1124, p. 496.
I had previously thought, when in 1997 the staff at Christie's asked me my opinion as to a possible date for this watercolor, that this was one of Hunt's early candlelight studies and that it probably dated to 1830 - 1835. I now know that it is, in fact, the watercolor exhibited by Hunt at the 1849 Spring Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours under the title, Candlelight Effect. In style, this work is very close to What Shall I Play?, which the artist exhibited the previous year and which shows the same girl as the pianist here, undoubtedly Hunt's daughter Emma. The reviewer for The Athenaeum in his review of the 1849 exhibition described what clearly seems to be this watercolor as "two girls at a piano." Another watercolor, also entitled Candlelight Effect when included in the 1848 exhibition, was described in the Athenaeum review of that exhibition as a girl at a piano, so it was probably a similar composition with a single figure. The woman shown standing in this watercolor is likely the artist's wife, Sarah.
28 Jan 2021: The art journal, The Critic, for May 15, 1849 identifies No. 266 in the 1849 exhibition, The Effect. as showing "two sisters, one playing the piano, the other listening,"
William Henry Hunt, Candlelight Effect, exhibited 1849
Candlelight Effect
10 1/2 X 12 3/4, 26.7 X 32.4 cm
Provenance:
(S) 1849, SPWC Spring Exhibition, No. 245 (P) 25 gns. Miss Burdette Coutts
(S) Foster's 20 March 1872, Lot 35 (P) £9 9s. 6d. Palmer
Edward S. Palmer, dealer on Duke St., London (S) Christie's 28 January 1878, Lot 307 (P) 7 gns. Crom.
F.C.A. Minoprio (S) Christie's 11 December 1886, Lot 59 (P) 5 gns. Field
(S) Christie's 10 December 1887, Lot 5 (P) 5 gns. Murray
Charles Fairfax Murray (S) Christie's 20 December 1920, Lot 25 (P) 22 gns. Agnew's
G. Moreland Agnew
Mrs. G. Moreland Agnew (S) Christie's 24 March 1933 (P) 12 gns. Permain
Miss Eithel Floersheim (S) Christie's 23 June 1950, Lot 117 (P) 35 gns. Fine Art Society
(S) Christie's 11 November 1997, Lot 131 (The Musical Conversation) (P) £6,325 $10,685
Exhibited:
1849, SPWC, No. 266, Candlelight Effect
1950, Fine Art Society (London dealer), No. 58
Literature: The Athenaeum, May 12, 1849, No. 1124, p. 496.
I had previously thought, when in 1997 the staff at Christie's asked me my opinion as to a possible date for this watercolor, that this was one of Hunt's early candlelight studies and that it probably dated to 1830 - 1835. I now know that it is, in fact, the watercolor exhibited by Hunt at the 1849 Spring Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours under the title, Candlelight Effect. In style, this work is very close to What Shall I Play?, which the artist exhibited the previous year and which shows the same girl as the pianist here, undoubtedly Hunt's daughter Emma. The reviewer for The Athenaeum in his review of the 1849 exhibition described what clearly seems to be this watercolor as "two girls at a piano." Another watercolor, also entitled Candlelight Effect when included in the 1848 exhibition, was described in the Athenaeum review of that exhibition as a girl at a piano, so it was probably a similar composition with a single figure. The woman shown standing in this watercolor is likely the artist's wife, Sarah.
28 Jan 2021: The art journal, The Critic, for May 15, 1849 identifies No. 266 in the 1849 exhibition, The Effect. as showing "two sisters, one playing the piano, the other listening,"