A Graduate of Pomona
Fig. 19f. William Henry Hunt, Girl in a Wood-house, dated and exhibited 1837
Girl in a Wood-house
Private collection
watercolor, body color, and gum arabic with scratching out
21 1/4 X 16 1/4 inches; 54 X 41 cm.
Signed and dated, center left, W. HUNT 1837
Provenance:
The late E. Nettlefold, of Harborne Hall, Birmingham (S) Christie's 11 November 1909, Lot 104 (P) £65 2s. Vicars;
J.E. Wignall (S) Christie's 27 July 1921 (P) 80 gns. Leigh;
With the Bourne Gallery, c. 1987;
(S) Sotheby's London, 14 Nov 1991, Lot 170 (P) £8,250, $14,643 by the present owner.
Exhibited:
1837, Society of Painters in Water-colours, Spring Exhibition, No. 9 (P) 35 gns. Cattermole & Stone
Literature:
Adrian Vincent, Victorian Watercolours: Children, 1987, p. 26, Ill. p. 27
Although this watercolor was later known by the title, "A Rustic Beauty," it was exhibited at the 1837 watercolor exhibition under Hunt's original title, Girl in a Wood-house. It shows a girl (who is too old to be Hunt's daughter, Emma, who was born in 1832), with her arms resting on the same chest that identifies the location where Hunt painted the work - an out building on the Holloway farm in Bramley, Hampshire, England. The depiction of the wood grain of the board at the extreme left of the painting is an extraordinary demonstration of the artist's ability to simulate in watercolor the textures of the most ordinary of objects.
This watercolor is about 1/2 the size of Hunt's 1838 painting, The Outhouse, which shows a view toward the other end of the shed, i.e., where the artist would have been sitting when he painted this work. The Boy in an Outhouse in the Huntington Collection, which, although horizontal in format, is very close in overall size and shows the door frame, chest, and old door in almost identical locations. Although not dated, this related work was almost certainly painted close in time to this work (i.e., late 1836 or early 1837) and is surely the other "wood house" painting exhibited by Hunt at the 1837 Spring Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-colours (No. 126, Interior of a Wood-house).
Unfortunately, this important painting is almost always shown online with the image flipped, so the model is facing to the viewers right. It is hard to see how this rather significant error can be corrected, since each time the image is copied to a new website, the more certain it becomes that the erroneous image will become the norm for most viewers.
Fig. 19f. William Henry Hunt, Girl in a Wood-house, dated and exhibited 1837
Girl in a Wood-house
Private collection
watercolor, body color, and gum arabic with scratching out
21 1/4 X 16 1/4 inches; 54 X 41 cm.
Signed and dated, center left, W. HUNT 1837
Provenance:
The late E. Nettlefold, of Harborne Hall, Birmingham (S) Christie's 11 November 1909, Lot 104 (P) £65 2s. Vicars;
J.E. Wignall (S) Christie's 27 July 1921 (P) 80 gns. Leigh;
With the Bourne Gallery, c. 1987;
(S) Sotheby's London, 14 Nov 1991, Lot 170 (P) £8,250, $14,643 by the present owner.
Exhibited:
1837, Society of Painters in Water-colours, Spring Exhibition, No. 9 (P) 35 gns. Cattermole & Stone
Literature:
Adrian Vincent, Victorian Watercolours: Children, 1987, p. 26, Ill. p. 27
Although this watercolor was later known by the title, "A Rustic Beauty," it was exhibited at the 1837 watercolor exhibition under Hunt's original title, Girl in a Wood-house. It shows a girl (who is too old to be Hunt's daughter, Emma, who was born in 1832), with her arms resting on the same chest that identifies the location where Hunt painted the work - an out building on the Holloway farm in Bramley, Hampshire, England. The depiction of the wood grain of the board at the extreme left of the painting is an extraordinary demonstration of the artist's ability to simulate in watercolor the textures of the most ordinary of objects.
This watercolor is about 1/2 the size of Hunt's 1838 painting, The Outhouse, which shows a view toward the other end of the shed, i.e., where the artist would have been sitting when he painted this work. The Boy in an Outhouse in the Huntington Collection, which, although horizontal in format, is very close in overall size and shows the door frame, chest, and old door in almost identical locations. Although not dated, this related work was almost certainly painted close in time to this work (i.e., late 1836 or early 1837) and is surely the other "wood house" painting exhibited by Hunt at the 1837 Spring Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-colours (No. 126, Interior of a Wood-house).
Unfortunately, this important painting is almost always shown online with the image flipped, so the model is facing to the viewers right. It is hard to see how this rather significant error can be corrected, since each time the image is copied to a new website, the more certain it becomes that the erroneous image will become the norm for most viewers.