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Fig. 15 William Henry Hunt, The Gamekeeper, dated 1834

The Gamekeeper

New Haven, Connecticut, The Yale Center for British Art, No. B2001.2.939

Ink, Watercolor, and bodycolor

14 15/16 × 9 5/8 in., 37.9 × 24.4 cm.

Signed and dated, l.r., W. HUNT 1834

 

This is a rare example of one of William Henry Hunt's Gamekeepers painted in the artist's mature style. Some viewers would undoubtedly consider it a more successful watercolor, and it is unquestionably superior in color to the artist's earlier renditions of this subject matter.

 

The author's suggestion that the model for this work could have been Hunt's brother-in-law, Charles Steadman is probably not correct. Steadman was not only a painter but he seems to have made his living as a tinman and japaner, just as Hunt's grandfather, father, brother, and nephew did. Since Hunt took approximately 14 - 18 days to paint one of his watercolors, it is hardly likely that a man who was actively employed and who may hve actually operated one of the four shops for tinware which Hunt's extended family owned, would have been willing to devote so much time as required of Hunt's models.

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Uploaded on April 26, 2012
Taken on August 18, 2011