Still life with double Gloucester cheese on a blue and white plate, mushrooms in a punnet, carrots, celery, and half-glazed stoneware jug
Copyright
Work in the public domain
Image: Courtauld
Image: Courtauld
Maker
(artist)
1790-1864
1790-1864
Title
Still life with double Gloucester cheese on a blue and white plate, mushrooms in a punnet, carrots, celery, and half-glazed stoneware jug
Date of Production
(circa) 1835
Medium
graphite, watercolour and scratching out on wove paper
Dimensions
Height: 17.1 cm
Width: 31.7 cm
Width: 31.7 cm
Object Number
D.1982.JW.18
Mode of Acquisition
John Witt, Art Fund bequest & grant aid, 1982
Credit
Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Location
Not currently on display
Keywords
- Celery
Label Text
"The best painter of still life that every existed" is how the Victorian author and critic John Ruskin described Hunt. Still lifes such as this appealed to Ruskin through the simplicity of their subject matter and the natural sense of beauty apparent in objects themselves. Ruskin found in Hunt's work the embodiment of one of his central artistic principles: the need to respond to the visible world with truth, clarity and objectivity.
Inscriptions
Watermark: Watermark: none.
Inscription: Recto: lower left, brown watercolour, signed: "W. HUNT". Verso: upper left, graphite: "40"; lower right, graphite: "William Henry Hunt".
Collector's mark: Verso: lower left corner, stamped in black: Sir John Witt (L.646a).
Inscription: Recto: lower left, brown watercolour, signed: "W. HUNT". Verso: upper left, graphite: "40"; lower right, graphite: "William Henry Hunt".
Collector's mark: Verso: lower left corner, stamped in black: Sir John Witt (L.646a).
Provenance
Prue Heathcote-Williams; purchased from her by Sir John Witt, London (1907-1982), L.646a, February 1977; John Witt Bequest via the Art Fund 1982
Exhibition History
Second Nature, Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2000-03/09/2000
William Henry Hunt, 1790-1864, Central Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, 02/05/1981-30/05/1981; The Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, 13/06/1981-11/07/1981; Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, Hastings, 15/08/1981-13/09/1981
Literature
Aidin, Rose, 'Back to Life' review of 'Second Nature', 25 August 2000
p. 48
p. 48
John Witt, William Henry Hunt (1790-1864): Life and Work, with a catalogue (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1982)
no. 763
no. 763
William Henry Hunt 1790-1864, Central Art Gallery, Wolverhampton; Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston; Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, 1981
no. 140
no. 140
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