Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. watercolor and gouache on paper, Fungi 4176

1956.24.219

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Fungi

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Artist

William Henry Hunt (1790 - 1864); William Henry Hunt (1790 - 1864)

Title

Fungi

Creation Date

1858-1859

Century

mid-19th century

Dimensions

6 1/4 in. x 8 1/2 in. (15.88 cm. x 21.59 cm.)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

Europe, United Kingdom

Medium and Support

watercolor and gouache on paper

Credit Line

Gift of Miss Susan Dwight Bliss

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1956.24.219

London-born and -trained, William Henry Hunt was devoted to the medium of watercolor. Long associated with the Society of Painters in Water Colours, he regularly contributed to its exhibitions. There, in 1858, artist and critic John Ruskin especially admired as “exquisite” one of Hunt’s works entitled “Fungi.” He marveled at the intense but indescribable red of the mushrooms emerging from a moss-covered ground. Hunt’s attention to detail, minute brushwork, and rich layered color reflect attributes of the Pre-Raphaelites working in London at the time. It is not known if this is the picture Ruskin described in “Pre-Raphaelitism: Lectures on Architecture and Painting,” but the qualities he praised are all in evidence here.