William Holman Hunt
1827–1910 · Symbolism & Art Nouveau
Biography
William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) was an English painter and a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Deeply religious, he travelled to the Holy Land to paint biblical scenes with authentic detail.
From the artist’s life
When it came to work, Hunt was an almost fanatical perfectionist. Throughout his career he spent an extraordinary amount of time depicting everything he painted with the greatest detail, accuracy and authenticity. In preparing Claudio and Isabella Hunt spent several days in the cells of the Lollards’ Tower prison at Lambeth Palace so that the background to his figures would be as realistic as possible. With other paintings he went even further. In 1854 he travelled to the Middle East to paint religious scenes in real biblical locations. To paint The Scapegoat (1854–85, pictured), based on the ancient Jewish rite of goat sacrifice, he even ventured into the scorching desert to work at the original site of the fallen city of Sodom. He found a rare white goat as a model for his work, but it died in transit. Later he painted another animal standing in a trough filled with salt and mud from the Dead Sea.
From the page of Claudio and Isabella
