THE LATE HOLMAN HUNT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 131, 12 September 1910, Page 5

THE LATE HOLMAN HUNT

A GREAT ARTIST. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. London, September 9'. Holman Hunt's cremation will take place to-day. He will be buried in St. Paul's Cathedral on Monday. Mr. Hunt had been in good health until ten days ago, when he showed slight symptoms of bronchitis and asthma. He was brought to London from his Berkshire residence, Sonning Acre, on Tuesday last. He was then scarcely conscious. His condition grew gradually worse, and he died on Wednesday, the immediate cause of death being heart failure. It is over sixtv rears since Mr. Hoi man Hunt exhibited his first picture at the Royal Academy. At that time he was one of the original band, which included Rossetti and Millais. of young and ardent artists who called themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. When the mysterious sign they painted on their first pictures had been explained, an almost universal wave of ridicule was directed towards them, only Ruskin and one or two other far-seeing critics saying anything in their favor. To-day it is recognised that the influence for good of the Pre-Raphaelites on the art of England of the latter half of the nineteenth century can hardly be over-esti-mated. Even those painters who are least in sympathy with the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelies now admit that had it not been for their initiative, English art must have long remained in the pitiful condition in which it existed in the forties. Mr. Holman Hunt survived all the other original members of the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood. He survived those artists, including Burne-Jones, whose original inspiration was due to the works of the Pre-Raphaelites. And he even—some critics say—survived the J movement begun by Whistler. But his own work is far more popular to-day than when it was first produced. No picture painted in the nineteenth century has been seen and admired by more thousands—both in the original and in reproductions—than Mr. Holman Hunt's "The Light of the World." Many of the public institutions of Great Britain have works painted by him. Mr. Hol-man-Hunt's book "Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" is the 'beat account of the movement ever printed. It was enlarged into a book from three articles which appeared some years ago in a magazine.