Sketch of Antinous

This Sketch by Hunt is a finished study of the relief of Antinous at the Villa Albani in Rome.

The marble relief, commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, portrays Antinous Silvanus, the god of woods and fields. Antinous, a beloved young man, is depicted with soft, smooth flesh and a somewhat melancholy expression. The relief captures him in the act of harvesting grapes, wearing a Greek tunic draped over the left shoulder.

Alfred William Hunt RWS (1830-1896) was a British painter and son of landscapist Andrew Hunt. Born in Liverpool he studied classics at Oxford and became a distinguished poet. He began his career illustrating for newspapers, and after encouragement from Ruskin, exhibited in the Royal Academy and other noted exhibitions. Hunt is associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and noted for his extraordinary detail in landscape works.

Literature

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Magazine of Art January 1891
Exhibition of Drawings in Water colour by Alfred William Hunt, Burlington Fine Arts Club (1897)

Museums

Ashmolean Museum
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
British Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
Getty Museum
Harris Museum and Gallery
Laing Art Gallery
Shipley Art Gallery
The Hepworth Wakefield
Williamson Art Gallery and Museum
John Wesley's House and the Museum of Methodism
Royal Watercolour Society
The Cooper Gallery
Walker Art Gallery