A young Boy asleep in a Chair
A young Boy asleep in a Chair
William Henry Hunt O.W.S. (1790-1864)
A young Boy asleep in a Chair
Signed lower right, W. HUNT
Watercolour heightened with bodycolour
11.1 by 15 cm., 4 ½ by 6 in.
Provenance:
Cyril Fry (1918-2010)
Literature:
Norwich, Castle Museum and London, J.S. Maas Gallery, William Henry Hunt 1790-1864, Water-colours and Drawings from the Collection of Mr & Mrs Cyril Fry, 1967, no 38b;
John Witt, William Henry Hunt, Life and Work, with a Catalogue, London 1982, p. 178, no. 382
Exhibited:
Norwich, Castle Museum and London, J.S. Maas Gallery, William Henry Hunt 1790-1864, Water-colours and Drawings from the Collection of Mr & Mrs Cyril Fry, 1967, no. 38b
F.G. Stephens notes that whilst 'his personal disabilities made him needful of the eyes of others and frequently made him reserved and not very easily accessible to strangers', Hunt had a free and easy manner especially with children and his playful nature made him an easy artist for them to sit to. (F G. Stephens, Fraser's Magazine., p. 531). The present sitter was probably one of the Swain brothers who sat for many of Hunt's genre subjects during the 1830s (see cat. 10 for a fuller discussion of the boys). As Roget noted 'Many and varied are the characters in which this lad was made to figure, and many and varied his depicted occupations…At one time he would be a sturdy cricketer…At another he would be fast asleep in placid unconsciousness' (J.L. Roget, A History of the Old Water-Colour Society, 1891).