New-York tribune., 1910-09-08

HOLMAN iii y L,
novertv discouraged his early inclinations
toward the aesthetic When it became
time for him TO earn a living his father
set him at work in al auctioneer's office
Fortunately for the future artist. his en-
plover was man whose vision was not
bounded by the hammer and block He
soon discovered the youthful longing of
his apprentice. and believing that he had
more than ordinary talent became ms
friend and patron So for three years.
while still nominally an auCtioneer's clerk,
and a very unsuccessful one, ne was at
tempting to make pictures.
Then he decided that he was ready to
earn a living at drawing. His father gave
reluctant consent but for time il seemed
as if the elder Hunts misgivings were well
founded. Half of each week the young
man spent painting portraits, and the other
half drawing at the British Museum. Much
of his work was merely the alteration Of
unsatisfactory portraits. All this time he
had no definite instruction and was work
ing much in the dark with continued
opposition from his family.
At length the reading of copy of Mod
ern Painters broadened his ambition, and
he decided to enter the Academy it was
only after three trials that he was ad-
nitted. and his real career as an art stu
dent began. At the Academy Hunt first
met Millais, and formed the friendship that
so greatly affected the future careers of
both. Hunt was now only seventeen, but
MiIlais was two years his junior, and had
already won the chief medal in the an
tique.
The Pre- Raphael idea came TO the two
friends one day while they were studying
of arlc~ # he fraS
COS from the Campo Santo at Pisa This
was early. in 1s4S: Later in the same year
the pair formed the original brotherhood.
The general belief that Dante Gabriel Ros-
setti was one Of this company was in
later years denied by Hunt. 1t was not
till after this that Rossetti came into
Hunt 5 studio as student. Rossetti event
uaIly caused the breaking UP of the orig
inal brotherhood by revealing to the pub
lie the meaning Of its hitherto mystic
initials, PR b This brought forth \
storm of hostile criticism. Rossetti be-
came the leader of the later group of
Pre-Raphaelites, the school of Burne- Zones
and William Morris, whose spirit was
medieval and antagonist TO the original
or the first group Hunt once wrote:
Our aim, now that academic training
left US free. was to exploit new regions of
nature in all its diversity, particularly in
the variety of human character Rosset
It's was the revival of QUA trocentro
IDEAS"
Neither then nor afterward did we af-
firm that there was not much healthy and
good art after Raphael, but it appeared to /
US that afterward art was so frequently |
tainted with this canker of corruption. that /
it was only in the earlier work we could /
find with certainty absolute health"
To these original doctrines Hunt re-
mained more faithful than any of the other
members Of the Brotherhood, not excepting /
Milais. But his course was a trying one
Four years before the founding of the new
movement he had produced his first Acad-
emy picture. the portrait of a child en-
titled "Hark All had then seemed prom
ising of prosperity till the detection of /
Rossett aroused popular scorn for the
Brotherhood's pictures. Life became a
bare struggle fo- existence.
For a long time Hunts only sale was
his 'Rienzi." for which friend paid 500
out of pity for the artist His Light of
the World" now in Keble College oxford.
aroused bitter criticism. 1t was not till
many years afterward that its merit was
Acknowledged when a French critic
pointed out that Hunt was the first 20
paint night as 1t really was.
in the sos Hunt took trip to the Holy
Land, and ever since then spent much Of
his time there. Among his Palestine paint
inss were The Scapegoat, exhibited in
1856: The Finding of the Saviour in the
Temple 1860. The Shadow Of the Cross"
1873; The Triumph of the Innocents."
1885. and Christ Among the Doctors"
1890
Others OF his paintings are The Flight
of Madeleine and Porphyrio, The Shadow
OF Death Converted Christian Family
Sheltering Christian Missionaries from the
Druids.' ."Rienz Vowing to Averge His
Brothers Death" "Hireling Shepherd"
Awakened Conscience" Valentine and
Silvia" Isabella and the Pot of Basil"
May Morning in MagdaIen Tower and
Holy Fire in the Church of the Sepul-
chre a Jerusalem
In later years Hunt reaped large fnan-
cial rewards for his work Christ Dis
covered in the Temple" was sold for
3. .or0 and The Shadow cf Death for
10000