Hurdy-Gurdy Boy
Lithograph printed with tint stone, 1857, very small edition. 7 1/2 x 5 5/8 in. Signed on the stone "W.M.HUNT." Here we have a superb impression of a very rare print. The margins are wide and probably full. The condition is very good apart from subtle staining recto and verso in the margins only. Like The Violet Girl, this lithograph was drawn on stone by Hunt after his own painting of the same subject. This is a remarkable work and looks very European in both style and execution. All of Hunt's fine prints are very rare.
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Our Sick Soldier
Lithograph printed on chine applique, 1863, very small edition. 6 1/2 x 4 7/8 in. Signed on the stone with the artist's monogram. This is a fine impression with full margins. The condition is very good apart from a suggestion of foxing in the margins and slight rippling to the sheet. This very rare print was published separately by Oakley and Thompson, Boston, and it relates to Hunt's painting called "Playing Field Hospital" which he originally donated to a Sanitary Fair Commission in Boston. This is the least common of Hunt's lithographs. In the late 1850s, Hunt released the well-documented set of six lithographs which was published by Phillips and Sampson which included "Stag in the Moonlight" and "The Violet Girl." We last offered an impression of this print in 1983. It's a stunning example of painter-lithography in 19th century America. (With thanks to Catharina Slauterback of the Boston Athenaeum for providing helpful information about this print.)
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The Violet Girl
Lithograph printed with tint stone, 1857, very small edition. 9 3/4 x 7 5/8 in. Signed on the stone lower left in script, "Wm M Hunt." This is a superb impression of this extremely rare and important American lithograph. Wide margins. Minor staining in the margins and a few thin spots. Hunt spent time in France and greatly admired the lithographs of Delacroix. This work was done in Newport, Rhode Island, along with the Hurdy Gurdy Boy. A set of six Hunt lithographs was published in Boston by Phillips and Sampson in 1857 but the printer is not known. In the words of Janet Flint, "The lithographs are a high point in painter-lithography in America."
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