The prolific Hunt family of artists is still a source of confusion and speculation among art historians. However, the dates of the author of this picture are now established, and we know that his father was called Richard Hunt, so that he was not the son of the artist commonly known as Charles Hunt, senior (1803-1877). We also know that he was the father of the well-known painters of farmyard subjects, Walter Hunt (1861-1941) and Edgar Hunt (1876-1953), and the uncle of the almost equally familiar Harry Brooker (1848-1940) who, like his uncle, specialised in genre. The Hunt family intermarried with brewers and coopers, which might explain the fact that Mishap at the Crossroads, like the two railway subjects by George Earl sold in these Rooms on 22 June 1990, was owned by the brewing family, Walkers, of Liverpool.

We are grateful to Mrs Vera Brooker for her help in preparing this entry.