William Morris Hunt: Sensitivities

"Mary Elizabeth Robbins" by William Morris Hunt

"The sensitiveness which William Morris Hunt brought to his work was so great that the slightest friction disturbed him. It is much to be regretted that he did not complete his portraits of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. The latter came for a sitting which he said must be short as he had an engagement in Cambridge. "How long must I sit?" inquired the doctor as he took his seat upon the artist's platform, and looked anxiously at his watch.

This threw Hunt off at once. He began, however, and was progressing with his usual rapidity and vim when the question was repeated and the watch once more consulted. Again was he thrown off, and it became a mental and physical impossibility to go on with the work. The distinguished sitter was dismissed, and another appointment was never made.

In like manner Mr. Emerson took the chair unwillingly. 'For myself,' said the great philosopher, 'I do not care to be painted. I sit to oblige my family and friends.' 'This remark,' said the artist later, "deprived me of the enthusiasm necessary for my work, and it was a wrong view for Mr. Emerson to take. As a man of genius and historic fame he should have felt that he ought to be painted.'

A lady asked him: 'Would you paint Mr. A. if I could persuade him to sit for his portrait?' and Hunt replied: 'I don't like persuaded sitters. I never could paint a cat if the cat had any scruples, religious, superstitious, or otherwise, about sitting!'" 

To be continued

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