1841 -1905 · Family, artists, scholars and self-portraits

Hunt's portraits combine scrupulous resemblance and moral identity: face, beard, clothing or background describe a person as much as a vocation.

William Holman Hunt has been practicing portraiture since adolescence and represents himself at several stages of his long career. The Self-Portrait at the age of fourteen already demonstrates a desire to become an artist despite family resistance. Later, his adult Self-Portrait affirms the beard, the look and the dignity of a founder of Pre-Raphaelitism. The Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at twenty-two maintains the proximity of the beginnings of the brotherhood: a young poet-painter appears before their paths diverge. Sir Richard Owen, an influential anatomist and paleontologist, maintains the proximity of the beginnings of the brotherhood: a young poet-painter appears before their paths diverge. Sir Richard Owen, an influential anatomist and paleontologist, offers another type of model. Hunt must unite physical accuracy, scholarly reputation and official sobriety. The family portraits of Fanny Waugh Hunt, Mary Walker Waugh and her sons finally show the place of the intimate in a career marked by travel and mourning. Its technique remains meticulous, but the portrait requires a different economy from large symbolic compositions. The background, pose and a few accessories are enough. The light color and precise contours give the model an almost tactile presence, while the look retains its reserve. Hunt does not transform each person into an allegory; rather, it seeks visible proof of a character, a profession or a relationship. The selection "Portraits of William Holman Hunt" notably compares Self-portrait and Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at the age of 22. His reading favors atmosphere.

Hunt's portrait does not renounce the symbol, but it begins with a simpler requirement: to make the face true enough so that the inner life can surface on it.