William Morris Hunt: Studies with Thomas Couture

"Peasant Girl" by William Morris Hunt

"William Morris Hunt found Couture and entered his studio, working with all that abounding energy and enthusiasm that characterized him when his interest was aroused. To his surprise Couture said to him, 'Young man, you don't know how to draw.' In time, however, under Couture's instruction, he produced drawings of marked excellence. Morris, as he was called in the class, was a great favorite. With Couture himself he was in perfect sympathy, and under his guidance, certain qualities in Hunt's mind and work unfolded as they scarcely would have done under any other auspices. It was not long before he had so absorbed Couture's manner of painting that the master declared that his pupil had carried it as far as it could go.

One day, Hunt's fascinating head, 'The Jewess,' was standing upon an easel, the admiration of both master and pupils. The painter Isabey came in and on seeing it mistook it for a success of the master. "Good, Couture! Do always like that and you will do well!' 'Ah,' cried Couture smiling, 'That is by Morris!' 

The method of painting in Couture's class was to make first a careful, and, if possible, a stylish or elegant outline drawing of the subject, adding only a few simple values with a frottée* of thin color, and leaving it to dry over night. Next day, by a formula, which can be found in Couture's little book, 'Method of Painting,' another thin frottée was used in portions; and with long-haired whipping brushes, the color was laid on in its exact place, the darks where they belonged, and of the right depth of tone; the lights thickly, and with startling brilliancy. Not one stroke could be retouched, or mud would ensue. The middle tones required the utmost nerve, feeling, and decision; but their quality, when good, was delightful and fascinating. No wonder that this method of painting attracted artists and students from every part of the world! 

To be continued

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

*"The term, "frottée" generally referred to a thin brown scrub-in without white, the lights instead being simply indicated by leaving the light ground more or less exposed. This stage was apparently left to dry before proceeding further..." from "The Technical Innovations of Rembrandt" by Virgil Elliot.)