William Holman Hunt exhibition in the UK
A new exhibition of the work of William Holman Hunt, organised by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the first show of the artist's work in Britain for almost 40 years, opens at Manchester Art Gallery today. Some of the paintings will be old friends if you live in the city, where several of the artist's paintings have hung for many years.
The Light of the World (Christ with a Lantern Knocking on a Door) is there, not far from The Scapegoat (sin-heavy ruminant with Dead Sea, purple mountains and rainbow). So are The Shadow of Death (Christ in his Carpenter's Workshop Anticipating his Crucifixion) and The Hireling Shepherd (who is more interested in maiden seduction than sheep care). These are the familiar, richly emblematic works of Holman Hunt the fervent evangelical Christian, and one of the founding fathers of the pre-Raphaelite movement, who coloured his neurotic piety with brilliant colours and shimmering light.
The Light Of The World, which surprisingly ran into trouble for its alleged popish traits, is probably too familiar from a million reproductions and spin-offs: postcards, Bibles and stained glass windows. But there are three versions here: Manchester's own, one from Keble college, Oxford, and a third (the enormous one) from St Paul's cathedral. By nipping up and down the gallery, you can see how the work became more luminous, with the light gradually spreading higher and higher up Christ's tunic and his halo becoming brighter.
The exhibition also explains how The Light spread even further: the life-size version toured major parts of the empire a century ago and was seen by a staggering seven million people. Its appeal is illustrated by a 19th-century copy made in dried flowers by Brenda Potts of Poynton in Cheshire, a banner made for a church in 1928 and a reproduction hanging in the home of the Vicar of Dibley. The Light has become folk art. But the exhibition, which shows the brilliance of Holman Hunt's colours and his attention to natural detail, goes beyond the familiar. His trips to Jerusalem show not just a desire for authentic Biblical works suffused with the light of the Middle East but a passionate concern for the creation of a Jewish homeland...
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
The Light of the World (Christ with a Lantern Knocking on a Door) is there, not far from The Scapegoat (sin-heavy ruminant with Dead Sea, purple mountains and rainbow). So are The Shadow of Death (Christ in his Carpenter's Workshop Anticipating his Crucifixion) and The Hireling Shepherd (who is more interested in maiden seduction than sheep care). These are the familiar, richly emblematic works of Holman Hunt the fervent evangelical Christian, and one of the founding fathers of the pre-Raphaelite movement, who coloured his neurotic piety with brilliant colours and shimmering light.
The Light Of The World, which surprisingly ran into trouble for its alleged popish traits, is probably too familiar from a million reproductions and spin-offs: postcards, Bibles and stained glass windows. But there are three versions here: Manchester's own, one from Keble college, Oxford, and a third (the enormous one) from St Paul's cathedral. By nipping up and down the gallery, you can see how the work became more luminous, with the light gradually spreading higher and higher up Christ's tunic and his halo becoming brighter.
The exhibition also explains how The Light spread even further: the life-size version toured major parts of the empire a century ago and was seen by a staggering seven million people. Its appeal is illustrated by a 19th-century copy made in dried flowers by Brenda Potts of Poynton in Cheshire, a banner made for a church in 1928 and a reproduction hanging in the home of the Vicar of Dibley. The Light has become folk art. But the exhibition, which shows the brilliance of Holman Hunt's colours and his attention to natural detail, goes beyond the familiar. His trips to Jerusalem show not just a desire for authentic Biblical works suffused with the light of the Middle East but a passionate concern for the creation of a Jewish homeland...