The Father's Leave-Taking

William Holman Hunt|The Etching Club

1879 · Etching; proof · Drawings and Prints

This print portrays Hunt’s second wife, Edith, holding their daughter Gladys. The pose recalls a Madonna of Humility, and the intense realism is characteristically endowed with symbolic resonance—after losing his first wife to sudden illness the artist was deeply aware of life’s fragility. The contrast between the grand classical column and domestic interior glimpsed through a doorway also echoes Renaissance nativities.

Artist

William Holman Hunt|The Etching Club

Date

1879

Medium

Etching; proof

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of James David Draper, 2002