William Holman Hunt, O.M., R.W.S. (1827-1910)

Details

William Holman Hunt, O.M., R.W.S. (1827-1910)

A Syrian Wife unveiled

signed with monogram, inscribed and dated 'Jerusalem July 2'76/Immjerries' and inscribed by Edith Holman Hunt at a later date 'Study of a Syrian Woman's Head/made at Jerusalem/By W. Holman Hunt/Draycott Lodge/Fulham London' on the stretcher; coloured chalks laid down on linen
20 x 14in. (50.8 x 35.5cm.)

Provenance

Joseph Ruston, Lincoln by 1893
His sale; Christie's, 4 July 1913, lot 101 (unsold at 40 guineas)
By descent to Lt. Col. J.S. Ruston; Christie's, 17 December 1920, lot 30 (9 gns. to Sampson)

Literature

Athenaeum, 14 September 1878, p.346
Mary Bennett, Artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Circle: The First GenerationCatalogue of Works in the Walker Art Gallery, Lady Lever Art Galery and Sudley Art Gallery, 1988, pp.88, 96, repr. fig.42

Exhibited

Birmingham, Royal Society of Artists, 14th Spring Exhibition of Water-Colour Paintings, 1879, no.486
London, Grosvenor Gallery, Winter, 1880, no.328 (as 'study of the Head of a Syrian Woman')
Rochester, Memorial Art Gallery, Orientalism, 1982, no.53, repr. in cat., p.41

Lot Essay

A study for the head of the Virgin in The Triumph of the Innocents (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), begun in Jerusalem during Hunt's third visit to the Holy Land in 1875 but not completed until 1887.

We are grateful to Dr. Judith Bronkhurst for her help in preparing this entry.

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