Plums and Mulberries - YCBA Collections Search

William Henry Hunt, 1790–1864, British, Plums and Mulberries, ca. 1860

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Creator:: William Henry Hunt, 1790–1864
Title:: Plums and Mulberries
Date:: ca. 1860
Materials & Techniques:: Watercolor, gouache, and gum over graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, beige wove paper
Dimensions:: Sheet: 7 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (19.7 x 24.1 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:: Signed in brown ink, lower right: "W. HUNT"; not dated
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1977.14.5923
Classification:: Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:: Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:: blackberries | botanical subject | botany | dirt | food | fruit | ivy | leaves | moss | mulberries | oval | plums | science | shadows | snail | still life | twigs
Access:: Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:10867
Export:: XML
IIIF Manifest:: JSON

From around 184o still life became the dominant theme of Hunt’s art. John Ruskin thought he was one of the greatest still-life painters in the history of Western art. Hunt developed new techniques to achieve the extraordinary mimetic effects in still lifes such as Plums and Mulberries. Instead of applying watercolor directly on paper, he painted a foundation layer of gum and opaque Chinese white on which watercolor could then be laid in liquid glazes. This had the advantage of giving a lustrous brilliance to the colors by allowing the white ground to shine through in the manner of enamel or porcelain painting.

Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)

Unto This Last (Watts Gallery) (Watts Gallery Trust, 2020-03-10 - 2020-11-01) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Unto this Last: Two Hundred Years of John Ruskin (Yale Center for British Art, 2019-09-05 - 2019-12-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Works of Splendor and Imagination - The Exhibition Watercolor 1770-1870 (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-09-16 - 1981-11-22) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Timothy J. Barringer, Unto this last : two hundred years of John Ruskin, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2019, p. 173, no. 29, NJ18.R895 .B37 2019 (LC) Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Jane Bayard, Works of splendor and imagination, The exhibition watercolor, 1770-1870 , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1981, pp. 70-71, pl. 67, ND1928 B39 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Elisabeth Fairman, Of green leaf , bird , and flower : artists' books and the natural world, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2014, p. 116, N7650 .O4 2014 [ORBIS]

Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 158-159, no. 68, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

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