Artwork Page for Study for "The Hireling Shepherd"

Details / Information for Study for "The Hireling Shepherd"

Study for "The Hireling Shepherd"

1851

William Holman Hunt

(British, 1827–1910)
Culture
England, 19th century
Medium
graphite
Support
Off-white laid paper
Watermarks
WDNEY'S
Measurements
Sheet: 11.4 x 18.3 cm (4 1/2 x 7 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Delia E. Holden Fund 1986.18
Catalogue raisonné
Bronkhurst D55
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

Contemporary viewers would have recognized the painting for which this drawing is a study as bearing a deeper meaning: the couple's risky flirtation will lead to disastrous consequences and the shepherd ignores his flock while distracted by romance.

Description

Together with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt was one of the founding members in 1848 of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of young artists who rejected the heavy darkness and idealization of academic history painting, replacing it with meticulously observed, jewel-colored naturalistic detail. This is a study for the figures in the oil painting The Hireling Shepherd, Hunt’s first commercial success. The poses of the couple in the painting are remarkably close to the early study: the shepherd approaches the shepherdess upon his knees, encircling her shoulders with his arm. Devoid of extraneous detail, the study concentrates on the romantic play and erotic tension expressed by the lovers’ intertwined limbs and faces and hands that stop just short of touching.
A horizontally oriented graphite drawing on off-white paper depicts a man and woman with light skin. On the left, a kneeling man with shoulder-length hair leans over a woman reclining facing him. He wraps an arm around her shoulder, holding a small object. She rests back, right arm raised and legs extended to our right. Sketchy outlines and fine hatching define their garments and forms against a plain, slightly stained background.

Study for "The Hireling Shepherd"

1851

William Holman Hunt

(British, 1827–1910)
England, 19th century

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