The Obligations of the Universities Towards Art

by William Holman Hunt

William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) was a British painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He formed the Pre-Raphaelite movement in 1848, after meeting the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Along with John Everett Millais they sought to revitalise art by emphasising the detailed observation of the natural world in a spirit of quasi-religious devotion to truth. This religious approach was influenced by the spiritual qualities of medieval art, in opposition to the alleged rationalism of the Renaissance embodied by Raphael. He achieved some early note for his intensely naturalistic scenes of modern rural and urban life, such as The Hireling Shepherd and The Awakening Conscience. However, it was with his religious paintings that he became famous. After travelling to the Holy Land in search of accurate topographical and ethnographical material for further religious works, he painted The Scapegoat, The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple and The Shadow of Death, along with many landscapes of the region. He also painted many works based on poems, such as Isabella and The Lady of Shalott.

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

1827-1910