In search of authenticity: Holman Hunt’s Travels to the Near East, 1854-92
Resumo
A legendary episode in the history of British art in the 19th century
concerns William Holman Hunt’s adventurous journey to Palestine in November
1954 to paint The Scapegoat, where, according to his own account, he had to
brave both the wilderness and the bandits, the brush in one hand and a shotgun in
the other.
This was the first of his four voyages to Egypt and Palestine in order
to find “real” scenery for his religious paintings, which resulted in a substantial
amount of oil paintings, watercolours and drawings. This essay analyses a limited
number of these paintings, in light of Hunt’s position as a Pre-Raphaelite and as
an orientalist painter.
In search of authenticity: Holman Hunt’s Travels to the Near East, 1854-92
Resumo
A legendary episode in the history of British art in the 19th century
concerns William Holman Hunt’s adventurous journey to Palestine in November
1954 to paint The Scapegoat, where, according to his own account, he had to
brave both the wilderness and the bandits, the brush in one hand and a shotgun in
the other.
This was the first of his four voyages to Egypt and Palestine in order
to find “real” scenery for his religious paintings, which resulted in a substantial
amount of oil paintings, watercolours and drawings. This essay analyses a limited
number of these paintings, in light of Hunt’s position as a Pre-Raphaelite and as
an orientalist painter.
