William Morris Hunt: Painting from Memory

"The Bather" by William Morris Hunt

"Emerson once said: 'A strong impression gives the power to paint it.' William Morris Hunt had great power of working from memory. In portrait painting this served him a good turn, for after his sitter had left, and he had returned from his luncheon, he saw with clear, frank gaze wherein his work might be improved, sometimes in the direction of likeness, oftener in that difficult combination of likeness and artistic quality.

In landscape painting his facility in working from memory was of the utmost importance. He received at once a strong impression of his subject, fastened it in his memory, and endeavored to hold fast to that as his guide, omitting any details that might weaken its strength.

One of the most distinguished examples of his power of working from memory was afforded by his picture of a couple of youths who were bathing in a sheltered cove of the Charles River. Hunt was driving at the time, and was powerfully impressed by what he had seen. Against a background of trees, full of the mystery of the woods, stood a beautiful figure on the shoulders of another youth whose feet rested upon the bed of the shallow stream. The top figure was poising itself before giving a leap into the water, and its action was one of sinuous grace. The flesh, with its tints of pearl and rose, gleamed softly in the shadow of over-hanging trees, and all this was shown in the painting. On seeing this, Hunt drove back into town, drew at once a small charcoal sketch of the subject, and from this made his painting.

He believed in painting his impressions, and little guessed what the word would come to mean in a few short years. Had he lived in the later years of Monet and his disciples, he would have entered heartily into their aims, gathered from them ideas of color vibration, waved a hearty God-speed, and gone on in his own way. Progress was his watchword, and every year his landscape work grew in breadth, light, color, and distinction." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Art-Life of William Morris Hunt" by Helen Mary Knowlton.)