Biography of William Holman Hunt 1827-1910
William Holman Hunt 1827-1910 is in Painters.
On or before 28 Oct 1816 Margaret Calder was born to Joseph Calder of Burnhouse and Elizabeth Waugh. Not known whether Elizabeth Waugh was related to the two Waugh sisters [his future wife] Fanny Waugh and [his future wife] Marion Edith Waugh who married William Holman Hunt, or their other sister Alice Gertrude Waugh who married Thomas Woolner.
On 02 Apr 1827 William Holman Hunt was born to William Hunt (age 27) and Sarah Hobman (age 29) at 41 Lifford Street or Love Lane [Map]. Originally William Hobman Hunt he changed his name when he discovered it had been erroneously entered at his baptism on 10 Apr 1827 at the St Giles without Cripplegate Church [Map].
William Hunt: In 1800 he was born. In 1856 he died.
Sarah Hobman: In 1798 she was born to William Hobman of Rotherhithe. In 1884 she died.
Around 1840 John Everett Millais 1st Baronet (age 10) became the youngest student to enter the Royal Academy schools where he met William Holman Hunt (age 12) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 11) with whom he later formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
1847 to 1857. William Holman Hunt (age 19). The flight of Madeline and Porphyro during the drunkenness attending the revelry.
In Sep 1847 the Pre-Raphealite Brotherhood was formed at 7 Gower Street, Camden [Map], the home of John Everett Millais 1st Baronet (age 18). The seven founder members were Millais, brothers Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 19) and William Michael Rossetti (age 17), William Holman Hunt (age 20), James Collinson (age 22), Frederick George Stephens (age 19) and Thomas Woolner (age 21).
1850. William Holman Hunt (age 22). "Lady of Shalott". Black chalk, pen and ink.
1851. William Holman Hunt (age 23). "The Hireling Shepherd".
1851. William Holman Hunt (age 23). "A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids". Model for central figure holding bowl with sponge is Elizabeth Siddal (age 21).
1851. William Holman Hunt (age 23). "Rienzi vowing to obtain Justice for the Death of his Young Brother, slain in a Skirmish between the Colonna and the Orsini Factions". Note the initials PRB bottom right under his name. From the 1835 novel Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes, by Bulwer Lytton, about Cola di Rienzi (1313-1354), a papal notary who led a popular uprising in Rome.
1851. William Holman Hunt (age 23). "Valentine rescuing Sylvia from Proteus". Two Gentlemen of Verona Act Five Scene 4. Model for Sylvia, kneeling, Elizabeth Siddal (age 21).
Proteus: Two Gentlemen of Verona Act Five Scene 4. Proteus. Valentine!
1851. Letter from Charles Allston Collins (age 22) to William Holman Hunt (age 23) regarding the picture "Convent Thoughts".
1851. Letter from Charles Allston Collins (age 22) to William Holman Hunt (age 23) regarding the picture "Convent Thoughts".
30 Mar 1851. Census. 5 Propsect Place.
William Holman Hunt (age 23). 22. Historical Painter.
1852. William Holman Hunt (age 24). "Our English Coasts" aka "Strayed Sheep".
1853. William Holman Hunt (age 25). "The Light of the World".
1853. William Holman Hunt (age 25). Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 24).
1853. William Holman Hunt (age 25). "Awakening Conscience". A mistress realises the undesirability of her actions. Note the absence of a wedding ring on her finger. Hunt hired a room at 7 Alpha Place, a "maison de convenance" to complete the painting. The painting has many symbols: the cat toying with the broken-winged bird under the table symbolises the woman's plight, a man's discarded glove warns that the likely fate of a cast-off mistress was prostitution, a tangled skein of yarn on the floor symbolises the web in which the girl is entrapped. The frame, designed by Hunt, also contains various symbolic emblems; the bells and marigolds stand for warning and sorrow, the star is a sign of spiritual revelation. [Source. Tate]. The model is Annie Miller (age 18).
1853. William Holman Hunt (age 25). Portrait of John Everett Millais 1st Baronet (age 23).
The Diary of George Price Boyce 1853. 06 Jan 1853. To Rossetti's (age 24), Blackfriars Bridge. Met there W. Holman Hunt (age 25), J. E. Millais (age 23), J. P. Seddon (age 25), Clayton (age 25), Munro (age 27), whose charming group of Francesca and her lover was in Rossetti's studio, Stephens, Blanchard, C. Lucy, a Scotchman and a foreigner. Millais somewhat egotistical and little real, his attention being easily distracted. He jerked out some good remarks. Spoke highly of Ruskin (age 33) as a friend of Art; said that Mrs. R (age 24). was sitting for one of his pictures1. Hunt struck me as a thoroughly genuine, humorous, good-hearted, straightforward English-like fellow. Said he was bound for Syria before long. Millais spoke highly of Charles Collins (age 24) as a good religious man?
Note 1. Probably "The Order of Release".
1854 to 1855. William Holman Hunt (age 26). "The Scapegoat". In the collecttion of the Lady Lever Art Gallery [Map].
1854 to 1856. William Holman Hunt (age 26). "The Lantern Maker's Shop".
In 1856 [his father] William Hunt (age 56) died.
The Diary of George Price Boyce 1855-1857. 27 Jun 1857. To P.R.B. Exhibition in Russell Place .... I found my little "Sunset" sketch in North Wales mounted in a preposterously wide gilt flat, whereas I had left it in my room mounted on white paper. A lot of the foreground is covered by the mount which completely spoils the sketch and looks ridiculously pretentious besides. Saw (at Hogarth's) a rather clever caricature-etching founded on Millais' "Dream of the Past" picture, to which the outlines were pretty strictly kept to. Millais (age 28) himself is the old Knight, Rossetti (age 29) the girl in front, Holman Hunt (age 30) the child behind. Ruskin (age 38) the ass on which they are riding and which is by far the best thing in the etching in every respect.
The Diary of George Price Boyce 1858. 21 Jan 1858. January 21. Holman Hunt (age 30) and Martineau called on me at 7 and stayed till nearly half-past 10. After desultory chat and looking at drawings, etc., Hunt introduced the subject which principally brought him. Having in prospect to marry Annie Miller (age 23), after that her education both of mind and manners shall have been completed, he wished to destroy as far as was possible all traces of her former occupation, viz, that of sitting to certain artists (those artists, however, being all his personal friends, Rossetti, A. Hughes, Stephens, Egg, Holliday, Millais, Collins and myself), and as mine was the only direct study of her head, as it was, he would hold it a favour if I would give it him and he in return would give me something of his doing that I might like. At first I resisted stoutly, but finding that it was a serious point with him, and that my refusing would be in some degree an obstacle in the carrying out of his wishes with regard to her (which it would be both selfish and unkind and foolish in the remotest degree to thwart) I at last reluctantly assented to give him the study, the most careful and the most interesting (to me) and which I prize the most I have ever made. He thanked me heartily for my compliance. He gave me real pleasure by telling me that she says I always behaved most kindly to her.
On 06 Sep 1864 Thomas Woolner (age 38) and Alice Gertrude Waugh were married. He had previously proposed to her sister [his future wife] Fanny Waugh (age 31).
Before 28 Dec 1865 William Holman Hunt (age 38) and Annie Miller (age 30) were engaged. He subsequently broke it off.
On 28 Dec 1865 William Holman Hunt (age 38) and Fanny Waugh (age 32) were married at Christ Church Paddington. William Michael Rossetti (age 36), and her brother and sister Emily and George were witnesses. She, Fanny, would die the following year eight days short of their anniversary. He would, ten years later, marry her younger sister Marion Edith Waugh (age 18); an example of Married to Two Siblings.
1866. William Holman Hunt (age 38). "The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple".
1866. William Holman Hunt (age 38). Portrait of his wife [his wife] Fanny Waugh (age 33).
1866. William Holman Hunt (age 38). "Il Dolce far Niente" aka "The Sweetness of Nothing(?)". Model Annie Miller (age 31).
On 27 Oct 1866 [his son] Cyril Hunt was born to William Holman Hunt (age 39) and [his wife] Fanny Waugh (age 33). It is likely that this birth is the one that caused the death of his mother since she and William Holman-Hunt has only been married one year.
In Dec 1866 [his wife] Fanny Waugh (age 33) died either from childbirth or from cholera. She was buried at the English Cemetery, Florence next to Elizabeth Barrett Browning in a tomb sculpted by her husband William Holman Hunt (age 39).
1867. William Holman Hunt (age 39). Self-Portrait.
1868. William Holman Hunt (age 40). "Isabella, or the Pot of Basil" from the Keats Poem "Isabella and the Pot of Basil" from the Decameron Day Four Story Five. The model his eight months pregnant wife [his former wife] Fanny Waugh who died after the painting was begun. Hunt turned the painting into a memorial to his wife.
Isabella: Decameron Day Four Story Five. Summary. Lisabetta's brothers murder her lover. He appears to her in a dream and shows her where he is buried. She secretly disinters the head and places it in a pot of basil, over which she weeps for a long time every day. In the end her brothers take it away from her, and shortly thereafter she dies of grief.
1868. William Holman Hunt (age 40). "The Birthday". Model his future second wife [his future wife] Marion Edith Waugh (age 21) on her twenty-first birthday (sister of his deceased first wife [his former wife] Fanny Waugh).
1870 to 1873. William Holman Hunt (age 42). "The Shadow of Death".
In Nov 1875 William Holman Hunt (age 48) and Marion Edith Waugh (age 28) were married at Neuchâtel, Switzerland since marrying your late wife's sister was illegal in England - see 1835 Marriage Act. She his first wife's younger sister contrary to English Law; an example of Married to Two Siblings. His brother-in-law Thomas Woolner (age 49) considered the marriage immoral; they never spoke again.
In 1878 [his daughter] Gladys Hunt was born to William Holman Hunt (age 50) and [his wife] Marion Edith Waugh (age 31) at Jerusalem [Map].
On 06 May 1879 [his son] Hilary Lushington Hunt was born to William Holman Hunt (age 52) and [his wife] Marion Edith Waugh (age 32) at 2 Warwick Gardens, Kensington.
03 Apr 1881. Census. 2 Warwick Gardens, Kensington
William Holman Hunt (age 54). Head. 54. Artist.
[his wife] Marion Edith Waugh (age 34). Wife. 34.
[his daughter] Gladys Hunt (age 3). Daughter. 4.
[his son] Hilary Lushington Hunt (age 1). Son. 1.
Mary A Ottaway. 42. Nurse.
Josephine M Murphy. 23. Housemaid.
Ada M Clemens. 23. Nurse.
Annie Burton. 26. Cook.
Gladys Hunt: In 1878 she was born to William Holman Hunt and Marion Edith Waugh at Jerusalem.
Hilary Lushington Hunt: On 06 May 1879 he was born to William Holman Hunt and Marion Edith Waugh at 2 Warwick Gardens, Kensington.
In 1884 [his mother] Sarah Hobman (age 86) died.
1888. to 1905. William Holman Hunt (age 60) assisted by Edward Robert Hughes (age 36). "Lady of Shalott. Part 3 Stanza 5: "Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack'd from side to side".
1890. William Holman Hunt (age 62). "May Morning on Magdalen Tower". In the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery [Map].
05 Apr 1891. Census. Draycott Lodge
William Holman Hunt (age 64). Head. 64. Artist of figure and landscape. Sculp.
[his wife] Marion Edith Waugh (age 44). Wife. 44.
[his daughter] Gladys Hunt (age 13). Daughter. 14. School Girl.
[his son] Hilary Lushington Hunt (age 11). Son. 11. School Boy.
Edith Spark. 24. Governess.
Mary A Ottaway. 53. Nurse.
Eugenie P A Bassel. 17. Housemaid.
Ella A Rich. 31. Cook.
Ann Butler. 63. Servant
Richard Butler. 60. Servant.
1892 to 1899. William Holman Hunt (age 64). "The Miracle of the Holy Fire".
1895. William Holman Hunt (age 67). Portrait of Margaret Lushington (age 25). In the collection of Gunby Hall, Lincolnshire.
Margaret Lushington: Around 1870 she was born. Before 1903 Stephen Langton aka Massingberd and she were married. In 1906 she died.
31 Mar 1901. Census. Draycott Lodge
William Holman Hunt (age 73). Head. 73. Artist and Sculptor crossed out. Painter.
[his wife] Marion Edith Waugh (age 54). Wife. 54.
[his son] Cyril Hunt (age 34). Son. 34. Tea Planter.
Florence Venney. Servant. 16. Under-housemaid.
Margaret Murdock. Servant. 37. Cook.
Cyril Hunt: On 27 Oct 1866 he was born to William Holman Hunt and Fanny Waugh. It is likely that this birth is the one that caused the death of his mother since she and William Holman-Hunt has only been married one year.
1909. Harold Speed (age 36). Portrait of William Holman Hunt (age 81).
On 07 Sep 1910 William Holman Hunt (age 83) died. He was buried at St Paul's Cathedral [Map].
Father: William Hunt
GrandFather: William Hobman of Rotherhithe
Mother: Sarah Hobman