Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-11-21
t"w. l.. b." in Boston Sunday Herald, Nov 1911
WILLT1M MORRIS HUNT.


William Morris Hunt, at the Museum Of Fine
Arts is a gratifying and not inadequate testi-
mony to the deep and widespread interest
that exists in this community in all matters
that relate to the genius and personality Of
the great painter. This attitude of the public
mind moves me to write out some notes of n
recent journey to certain localities in Yer
mont, to some extent associated with the
dead artists name and fame in the belief
that they may be accepted as an added pcb-
bic to the wonderful carn that men and wo-
men in all departments of intellectual actyi-
ty are piling up to his memory. And what a
noble memory it is that has been left for
his contemporaries to keep green Consd-
cred apart from his artistic achievements he
was one of the most notable men Of his time.
The seal of a richly endowed nature was as
plainly stamped upon his physiognomy as it
is plainly wanting in the majority Of man
kind, and the personal resemblance he was
said to bear to portraits Of Da Ninci is only a
fresh illustration of the theory of Schopen-
hauer, that men of genius throughout the
world possess "A family likeness. marked
dramatic element in his composition. united
with great viyacity, sympathy and delicacy,
allied him closely to the Gallo type, and in
many ways seemed to belle his Anglo Saxon
origin He was cheering and inspirting in
the company Of his friends and, as our New
Englauders rarely are, at once viyacious and
gentle. Unlike most of us, again, who assert
our nationality by perverse inability TO rest
content with light, passing interests, with
half happiness in small things he knew
how TO make joys out Of trifes, how TO put
away care in the fleeing sunshine of the mo-
ment. and to find the kecncst and purost
pleasure even in the bright colors Of soap
bubble.
jonathan Hunt, the father Of the painter,
was born in the Vermont town Of Vernon,
was graduated at Dartmouth college, and,
soon after opening a law office in Brattlcboro,
he married Jane Maria Leavitt Of Suflield,
Conn. II, purchased a spacious corner lot on
Main street and built thereon the house now
owned Iy Hon Geo. Howe. in whose southeast
chamber William Morris Hunt was born. The
mansion stands back from the street in the
midst Of a handsome growth of shrubbery,
and il is now n well preserved structure Of
painted hricR-Squnrc. substantial and dgui-
t,d-looking-wit some Of its apartments on
the ground floor very little changed in ap-
pearancc since the death of Hon. Jonathan
Hunt, which took place at Washington in
| 1882, whore he was servingas amember of the
| House Of Representatives. In the same year
the family left the BrattlcIoro HON, stead
and removed to New Haven, for the sake Of
| the superior schools in the latter city When
about 10 years old William had evinc,d de
cid,d taste for drawing and he received his
| first lessons in the art from an Italian then
resident in New Haven, named Gambad,lla
| Under his instruction the youthful artist cop
| led several crayon subjects one Of which, a
| head Of JEANNE Deans. is still preserved by
! his sister. Miss Jane Hunt, who was stopping
Mt the Brooks House, in Brattlehoro, at the
| time or my visit, in company with an aunt, q
! gracious, interesting lady. into whose arms
the infant William wa, placed by the phy~i-
elan who assisted at his birth albeit her
comely face would hardly admit that sho
| could be old enough at the time to have rem
| derod such "a service. When about a dozen
| years Of age Mr.. Hunts artistic ambition
manifested itself in the direction Of sculp-
| ture, and he began to cut heads out of mar
bles, and also out of hard, yellowsh sub
stance obtained from the bleaching watts at
| Lowell. In this latter mate rial be often at
| temple d portraits Of his friends. and his sis
| ter just mentioned wears one to this day,
mounted as collar pin. This talent was
| cultivated even after lie went abroad to pros
ecutc his studies, and | saw at Elmsholme a
lire size portrait Dust OF MS mother wn1cn
| William executed in Paris, believe.
Elmshome is the pretty and appropriate
name of the estate of Col. Leavitt Hunt, a
younger brother Of the painter, to whose
picturesque careera photograph must be CIV
en- before l touch upon his residence. He
was educated at military school at Switzer-
land, and there laid the foundation of his
present proficiency in philology- for Col.
| Hunt is thoroughly yersed in half n score Of
| languages. and last year was offered pro-
! fessorship at Princeton college. After leay-
| ing Switzerland he travelled extensively, 60
ing to Egypt in 1850, where he photographed
The ruins of that region, together with those
| Of Nubia. Pitra and Baalbec. His photo
| graphs were the first ever taken in those
countries, and, when he returned with them
to Europe, they formed the subject Of many
| interesting interviews between their possessor
and Baron Won Humboldt and Prof Lepsius,
the famous Orientalst They were shown to
the Emperor William by Humboldt and that
| potentate was so pleased with them that he
would have decorated Col. Hunt, could the
| latter have accepted such mark of royal ia
yor. He was travelling abroad on "a pro!ong-
| ed wedding tour when the civil war broke
| out and on his return home, he was COM
missioned q colonel i'll the ndjutant general +
| department, serving both with the army in
| Virginia aud in the bureau at Washington.
| His hospitable mansion at the capital is re-
membered yet, l will venture to say by its
| AdJitUtS, who included nearly all the proni-
! neut members Of the diplomatic corps, sever
al of whom had formed the acquaintance Of
their host in their native countries. The
wife of Col. Hunt is a daughter of the late
Hon. William Jarvis Of Boston, and grand
son, | believe, of that Leonard Jarvis who
was the first colonel of the Independent
Corps of Cadets, and whose portrait, in uni
form, by Coploy (the last painted by that ar
fist in America, hangs in the lower hall at
Elmsholme.
The father of Mrs. Hunt was known,
and is still remembered, as Consul Jar
Wis, he having been consul general and
charge da6ajres at Lisbon in the beginning
of this century. He purchased the estate
known as Weathersfeld Bow, on the Con-
necticut, in the Vermont town of Weathers-
field. as a desirable place for the reception of
the merino hocks which he had secured from
the Spanish Junta-the focks in question
having been part of the property of the
Principe de la PaZ, contisCatCd at the time of
the French invasion. These merinOs, with
their native shepherds and dogs, were the
first of any account imported into this coun-
lIN, rs DIcNlOuhll llt NAloAiCih VI Nutbt
sheep from Spain were punished by death.
Consul Jarvis also imported the first herd of
Holsten cattle ever brought to the United
States, and in Col. Hunts spacious stables
may be seen to-day the black-and- white, pure
blooded descendants of the original herd, to-
gether with descendants of thoroughbred and
English horses and Arab ponies, imported by
Consul Jarvis three quarters of century ago.
This enterprising gentleman also brought the
first tomatoes from Spain to the New World,
and seed from the product of his vines WAS
gradually distributed throughout the country.
| My mother who was native Of st. Adams,
Vt, remembers the introduction of the
strange plant in her neighborhood, where it
was cultivated for some time for purely orna-
mental purposes, and went by the strangely
sentimental name of love plant.
The house and grounds are situated on a
stretch of level meadow, in full view of Mt
Ascutney, and as was driven along the high