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The Woodcutter's Breakfast (The Faggot Gatherer's Meal)

ca. 1832–34 (?)
Not on view
Hunt's meticulous genre and still life subjects prefigure the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's emphasis on meticulous detail. This work displays the artist's mature mastery of watercolor, admiringly described by his pupil John Ruskin in "The Elements of Drawing" (1857). To create this image, Hunt stippled a white gouache ground using broken touches of watercolor and extensive passages of scraping to create bold effects of light and texture. His intense, realistic vision of British rural life focuses on an unadorned cottage interior where a humble figure rests on a bench. The distinct textures of the brick fireplace, rough flagstones, simple furniture, earthenware pot, iron kettle, and piled branches are all lovingly recorded.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Woodcutter's Breakfast (The Faggot Gatherer's Meal)
  • Artist: William Henry Hunt (British, London 1790–1864 London)
  • Date: ca. 1832–34 (?)
  • Medium: Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) over graphite
  • Dimensions: 13 x 17 in. (33.0 x 43.2 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Emmanuel Moatti Gift, Van Day Truex Fund, 2000
  • Object Number: 2000.114
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
An apple, grapes and a hazelnut on a mossy bank, William Henry Hunt British, Watercolor and graphite, heightened with white
An apple, grapes and a hazelnut on a mossy bank
William Henry Hunt
1830–64
On the Wharfe, Bolton Abbey, William Callow British, Watercolor
On the Wharfe, Bolton Abbey
William Callow
September 30, 1858
The Lake of Zug, Joseph Mallord William Turner British, Watercolor and bodycolor (gouache) with reductive techniques over graphite
The Lake of Zug
Joseph Mallord William Turner
1843
Fishermen's cottages at Hastings, William Henry Hunt British, Watercolor
Fishermen's cottages at Hastings
William Henry Hunt
1815–25
Stroh Violin, George Evans & Co. English, Mahogany and aluminum, British
Stroh Violin
George Evans & Co.
first quarter 20th century

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