Property from a private collection (Lots 167-174) Alfred William Hunt was born in Liverpool, the son of a landscape painter who knew David Cox. In 1865 the family moved to London, where they became prominent members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. Hunt had been exhibiting at the Royal Academy since 1854. He was elected an associate of the Old Water-colour Society in 1862, achieved full membership two years later, and became vice-president in 1888. Throughout his life he travelled widely in search of subjects, both in Britain and Europe, and visited America in 1893. He was great friends with John Ruskin, bonding over their love of Turner, whose influence on Hunt went far beyond the externals of style and composition. Hunt saw his hero as an artist whose work was 'a series of experiments', which would be 'more or less unintelligible' to anyone for whom 'the strength, variety and infinite subtlety' of landscape painting in watercolour was not 'a means of representing distinct moods of thought and feeling'. He saw his own work in similar terms, with the result that it is not only incredibly varied but has a detached, analytical quality representing a level of intellectual sophistication that we encounter in no other watercolourist of his generation. His most loyal patrons were the sons of Robert Stirling Newall, the engineer and astronomer. The largest collection of Hunt’s work in private hands was formed by Norman D. Newall, Robert’s grandson, and sold in these Rooms in December 1979. This landmark sale re-established Hunt’s reputation as perhaps the greatest watercolourist of his time.

Alfred William Hunt, R.W.S. (1830-1896)

Whitby Abbey, with boats sailing out of the harbour

Details

Alfred William Hunt, R.W.S. (1830-1896)
Whitby Abbey, with boats sailing out of the harbour
with inscription 'Fine evening at Whitby 1881/A W Hunt' (on the reverse)
pencil and watercolour with gum arabic and with scratching out on paper
15½ x 22 in. (39.4 x 55.9 cm.)

Provenance

Mrs Dobson, 1897.
Victor Rienaecker.
The Fuller Collection; Christie's, London, 7 April 2000, lot 25.

Literature

Old Water-Colour Society's Club, vol. II, London, 1924-1925, pl. 10.

Exhibited

London, Old Water-Colour Society, Summer 1881, no. 91.
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Memorial Exhibition of Pictures by Alfred W. Hunt, 1897, no. 48, as 'A Fine evening at Whitby'.
London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of Drawings in Watercolour by Alfred William Hunt, 1897, no. 104.
London, Royal Academy, The Great Age of British Watercolours, 15 January-11 April 1993, exhibition catalogue no. 177, pl. 324, illustrated in colour.

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Lot Essay

This important work by Hunt looks East towards the 199 steps leading to St Mary's Church and Whitby Abbey. It also depicts the 'Spa Ladder' (to the left), 'Tate Hill Pier' (centre) and a cluster of fishermen's houses in the old part of the town. The artist has painted the picture while seated on Spion Cop, a hill top point situated above the West Pier whose houses can be seen to the bottom of the picture. Drying washing on the beach was a common practice in the area.

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