Still life with double Gloucester cheese on a blue and white plate, mushrooms in a punnet, carrots, celery, and half-glazed stoneware jug

by-nc

Maker

(artist)
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

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).

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
John Witt, William Henry Hunt (1790-1864): Life and Work, with a catalogue (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1982)
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

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