HUNT, William Holman, English painter of religious subjects: b. London, .2 April 1827; d. there, 7 Sept. 1910. He studied at the Royal Academy in 1845, and next year exhibited his first picture, 'Hark!) repre senting a child holding a watch to her ear. His early years as an artist were spent in great poverty. About 1848 Hunt, D. G. Rossetti and J. E. Millais formed the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood, afterward enlarged by the admission of other painters and writers, and which attained a position of great influence through the eloquent support of Ruskin. Each of the three founders exhibited in 1849 a picture painted in strict accordance with the principles of the Brotherhood. Hunt's picture represented 'Rienzi Vowing to Obtain Justice for the Death of His Younger Brother,) and was ex hibited at the Royal Academy. The exhibition of 1854 included two of his greatest pictures, one of them the well-known 'Light of the World,) now in Keble College, Oxford, and a life-size copy in Saint Paul's, London. Both it and 'The Awakening Conscience' are char acterized by the careful draughtsmanship and attention to detail which form notable features of the best Pre-Raphaelite work, but their full meaning is far from clear to the average spec tator. In 1854 Hunt went to Palestine in order to obtain a living acquaintance with the scenes of the Biblical stories, and the first fruits of his study of Eastern life was 'The (1856), one of his most original and most poet ical works; but much finer is his 'Finding of the Saviour in the Temple,' exhibited in 1860.
Among subsequent works of Hunt's are 'A Street Scene in Cairo — the Lantern-Maker's Courtship) (1861) • ' 'Portrait of D. G. Rossetti) (1850) ;
Downs' (1858) ; 'The After Glow in Egypt) (1865), "that modern master piece of technical artp;
or the Pot of Basil) (1868), based on the well-known story from Boccaccio utilized by Keats, and in respect of coloring the finest of the artist's works; 'The Shadow of Death) (1873), show ing a prevision of the Crucifixion in the car penter shop where Jesus is working beside His mother; 'The Triumph of the Innocents' (1885), one of his masterpieces; 'Christ among the Doctors) (1860). In 1857 he received only one vote when put up as an associate of the Royal Academy and afterward set his face against academic honors;, but he was awarded the coveted Order of Merit in 1905. His talents were consecrated to the depiction of sacred subjects, which are chosen with great attention to detail. Consult his