The Father’s Leave-taking (1879)

Hunt, William Holman (1827-1910)

The Father’s Leave-taking
1879
Etching, 18.9 x 25.3 cm
Princeton University Art MuseumPrinceton

Of the three founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (Rossetti, Hunt, and Millais), William Holman Hunt was the most dedicated to working directly from nature in order to impart an authenticity to his detailed allegorical compositions.The Father’s Leave-taking, the last of seven etchings made by Hunt in his career, depicts the artist’s wife holding their infant daughter while seated in the morning sun, on the steps of an imagined neoclassical home. When looking at this print, the viewer witnesses the scene as if through the eyes of the artist: the departing father indicated in the title. (PUAM)

See also:

Hunt, Edith (1846-1931)