A Still Life with an Apple and black and white Grapes

Hunt was apprenticed to John Varley (see lot 48) at the age of seven and, together with John Linnell, one of the greatest Victorian landscapists, spent much of his early career sketching in the London suburbs. Owing to a deformity in his legs he preferred to sit while painting and hence became adept at depicting mossy banks and still lifes. These secured his reputation and the nickname 'Bird's Nest Hunt'. He was elected a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1826 and developed a technique of hatching and stippling in bodycolour over a white ground. His work was greatly admired by Ruskin and inspired several imitators.