The Day in the Country
Date1865
Artist
William Holman Hunt
(British painter, 1827–1910)
MediumChine appliqué etching
Dimensionsplate: 5 1/2 × 8 1/4 in. (14 × 21 cm)
sheet: 6 7/8 × 9 3/4 in. (17.5 × 24.8 cm)
sheet: 6 7/8 × 9 3/4 in. (17.5 × 24.8 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 2014
Object number2014-8
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextDespite the numerous narrative details, the subject of this print is not known. It was one of twelve etchings in a portfolio issued by The Etching Club (1838-1885), which Holman Hunt joined in 1856. Etching experienced a revival in the late 1850s, largely as the spontaneity of the process was seen as a counterpoint to the photographic emphasis of the illustration trade. This was only the third etching the artist had ever published. And yet the critic, F.G Stephens found the landscape background to have, “all the richness, variety and force of a true study from nature.”
