Charles Hunt, the Young Thespians - Antique Oil Painting

This charming late 19th-century oil painting by British artist Charles Hunt (1803-1877) depicts two theatrical children dressed as royalty, while others look on. Hunt was an accomplished painter and engraver known predominantly for equestrian prints and genre scenes.

The central characters with their arms raised in peril appear to be cowering from their inevitable fate. They’re dressed in medieval costumes and conceivably acting out the last throes of a Shakespearian tragedy. However, that said, over on the right there’s a young lad with a bicorn hat, so perhaps they’ve simply raided the dressing-up box…

Born in London in 1803, Hunt was raised amid the drama of the Regency period when distant Napoleonic cannons grew closer every day and the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. Writers, such as Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and John Keats, were providing the literary backdrop and the theatres were alive with interest.

Little is known about his training but evidently he could draw from an early age. It’s plausible that, much like his contemporary Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902), he was tutored by a local drawing master. In his autobiography, Cooper recalled spending countless hours sketching Canterbury Cathedral in an attempt to improve his technique. Perhaps Hunt sketched his family.

This advanced skill with a pencil translated into his dexterity with a burin and he soon became a proficient engraver - producing works after leading sporting artists such as John Frederick Herring Snr (1795-1865) and Francis Calcroft Turner (1782-1846). For around 35 years, he was known predominantly for engravings and forged a solid career with London’s busy printmakers.

In 1862, at the age of 59, he debuted at London’s Royal Academy with ‘Vocal and Instrumental’, a scene depicting several ragtag youths striking up a melody on homemade kit. It’s witty, charming, and carries a Dickensian spirit. From this point on, he focused on oil paintings in earnest.

Children - the good, the bad, and the quirky, were a constant source of inspiration, which is unsurprising given that his household would’ve been abundant with grandkids. He fathered four sons and four daughters, who probably each brought their own offspring to see their artistic grandfather. One can imagine that many of these feature in his work - with each given a role to play along with appropriate attire. Can you imagine the amusement when they were presented with the finished result?

It’s noticeable that the majority of his figures are painted with particular attention to the facial nuances, which supports the idea that these are sitters he knew. In ‘Children Acting the Play Scene from Hamlet, Act II, Scene II (1863)’, the level of detail is more akin to a group portrait.

Hunt continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy until 1873, by which point, two of his sons, Edwin Henry Hunt (1840-1925) and Charles Parker Hunt (1829-1900) had both become artists of merit. He’s represented at the British Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Yale Center for British Art.

Signed/dated in the lower right and held in a later Rococo style frame with a concave profile, florets with pierced scrolling foliate corner cartouches and centres, and s-scrolling rails.

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Medium: Oil on canvas

Overall size: 17” x 15” / 43cm x 38cm

Year of creation: 1873

Provenance: Private collection, UK.

Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Canvas relined. Fine craquelure throughout. The paint layer is stable. Frame with various marks and showing its age.

Artist’s auction maximum: £128,080 for ‘Bluebeard Marries/Bluebeard Foiled (1865)’, Oil on canvas, Sotheby’s, La Belle Epoque Including ‘The Age Of Innocence: A 19th Century Childhood’, New York, 3 May 2000 (lot 156).

Our reference: BRV2059