William Henry Hunt, Sea Shells, c. 1857

Sea Shells

Currently untraced

Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic

 

Provenance:

John Ruskin

 

Contrary to what is usually claimed, this is the watercolor which John Ruskin commissioned Hunt to paint as part of his series to be used in the instruction of working class men in art. The watercolor now at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard does not match contemporary descriptions of the painting that Ruskin had the artist paint.

Done