By the time of his death, William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) was a living legend - one of the last great Victorian painters. Unlike his fellow ‘Brothers’, John Everret Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Hunt stayed true to the Pre-Raphaelite cause. He never abandoned the Pre-Raphaelite Brothers' (PRB) meticulous technique of painting, or his uncompromising realism; attention to detail and serious subject matter remained his stalwarts. Hunt was regarded as the greatest religious painter of the day; his iconic The Light of the World adorned every nursery room and Sunday school. While his biblical subjects may have denied him a popular following today, he remains the quintessential earnest Victorian with a moral tale to tell. Against this image of righteous virtue, it is wise to remember that even Hunt’s private life was not without scandal.
This lecture is delivered by Dr Anne Anderson. With a first degree in archaeology and a PhD in English, Anne was a senior lecturer in Art and Design History at Southampton Solent University for 14 years. She has curated four national exhibitions, including Ancient Landscape, Pastoral Visions: Samuel Palmer to the Ruralists (2008), The Truth About Faeries (2009-11), Under the Greenwood: Picturing the British Tree (2013) and Beyond the Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy (2019-20). Her book on The Perseus Series accompanied the Edward Burne-Jones exhibition (2018, Tate Britain). Anne has also published over a hundred academic papers. She has held several prestigious fellowships including Fellow of the Huntington Library, CA and Fellow of the Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Library and Museum. Currently a guide and lecturer, Anne specialises in Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts art tours. Her career as an international speaker has taken her all over the world, including Jersey, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. She undertook her fourth lecture tour for ADFAS in 2018