The Father’s Leave-Taking

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The Father’s Leave-Taking

Artist William Holman Hunt (British, 1827-1910)

Date1879

Dimensions10 1/8 x 7 1/2 in. (25.7 x 19 cm)

MediumEtching

ClassificationPrints

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1981.85

Not on View

Label TextOne of the greatest artists of Victorian England, William Holman Hunt had to convince his father, a London warehouse manager, through hard work and persistence to let him “try” painting as a profession. He also had to persuade the Royal Academy of Arts, for it was on his third try that he was finally accepted. It was there with fellow students he formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. For Hunt, painting and literature were two bodies with a single soul: both good literature and good painting must tell a story and bear a message. This etching was created for the Etching Club, which “provided opportunities for etchers to make, sell, and exhibit their work independently of the dominant art institutions.” This, his final etching for the society, depicts his second wife Edith and daughter Gladys. His first wife Fanny died in 1866 after the birth of their son Cyril (see Hunt’s poignant portrait of Fanny upstairs in Gallery 32). Ten years later he married Edith, Fanny’s sister, against family wishes and English law (it was illegal to marry your sister-in-law at the time).Exhibition HistoryTMA The Painter Was a Printmaker: June 23 - Sept. 9, 1984 TMA Recent Acquisitions: Prints, Drawings, & llustrated Books Jan. 22, - June 24, 1983. Toledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.