The Father’s Leave Taking

Artist: William Holman Hunt, English, 1827–1910
Date: 1879
Material: Etching and drypoint
made in: London, Greater London, England, Europe
Classification: Prints
Collection: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: plate: 7 3/8 x 9 7/8 in. (18.7 x 25.1 cm)
sheet: 13 x 18 5/8 in. (33 x 47.3 cm)
Credit Line: The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 161:2003

NOTES

The artist based this 1879 etching on a drawing of his wife Edith and their daughter Gladys from several years earlier. The composition’s solid forms and their triangular arrangement reveal the artist’s interest in the Italian Renaissance, while the work serves both as an hommage to motherhood and an intimate family portrait.

Hunt’s drawing of his family was made while they were living in Jerusalem, where Gladys was born and where Hunt had already spent considerable time. This was Hunt’s third and last trip to the region. On these extended trips, he experienced and learned from the Holy Land, with its sacred history relevant to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, in order to apply that knowledge to the deeply Christian themes of his paintings.

Provenance

William Holman Hunt, London, England

Elizabeth Burt, by inheritance (granddaughter of artist)

- 2003
James A. Bergquist, Newton Centre, MA, USA, purchased from Elizabeth Burt [1]

2003 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from James A. Bergquist [2]

Notes:
[1] The primary provenance source is the dealer, James A. Berquist, in transcribed phone conversation, Nov. 17, 2003 [SLAM document files].

[2] Invoice dated October 28, 2003 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committe of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, Dec. 2, 2003.

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.

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