Peach and Grapes

Inspired by seventeenth-century Dutch still lifes, Hunt’s watercolors display a precision of handling and depth of color that mimic the look of oil paintings. To create these compositions, he collected items like flowers, fruits, pieces of turf, and rocks and arranged them on a table in his studio. His work reflects his precise study of naturalistic details, such as the powdery bloom on the grape skins in this example. In his later career, Hunt took on students, including John Ruskin, whose Elements of Drawing (first published in 1857), on view in a case nearby, would transmit Hunt’s methods to the next generation of artists (2022).