Our English Coasts (Strayed Sheep) William Holman Hunt by Claire Davis

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Our English Coasts(Strayed Sheep)William
Holman Hunt by Claire Davis
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Our English Coasts, 1852(Strayed Sheep)
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William Hunt Biography

• Born April 2, 1827 /died Sept. 7, 1910
• He formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848
  with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Millais
• His works were initially not successful but later
  became famous for his religious paintings

Self Portrait
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• His paintings were know for great attention to
  detail, vivid color, and elaborate symbolism
• These features were influenced by the writings of
  John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle, according to whom
  the world should be read as a system of visual
  signs.
• Hunt felt it was the duty of the artist to
  reveal the correspondence between sign and fact.
  Out of all the members of the Pre-Raphaelite
  Brotherhood, Hunt remained most true to their
  ideals throughout his career.

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Our English Coasts, 1852 (Strayed Sheep)
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Our English Coasts(Possible satire)

• The painting of a herd of endangered sheep on a
  cliff near Hastings combines religious and
  political satire with a realistic technique
• From this vantage point, Hunt either could be
  mocking those who thought that a country with
  such bulwarks were defenseless, or, could be
  satirizing political and religious leadership
  which allowed the masses to stray into such
  danger

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The Sheep as Symbols

• The vulnerability of the sheep represents the
  dangers associated with religious sectarianism,
  and the even more pressing threat of invasion
  from foreign forces both great concerns at the
  time this picture was painted.
• Some thought the sheep were symbolic of men
  unknowingly at the brink of danger

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The Coastline Symbol

• The painting is located on the coast or bulwark.
  This by some was considered a not well protected
  and vulnerable part of the country.
• The name was changed from Our English Coast to
  Strayed Sheep to take emphasis off of this fact.

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Bibliography

• http//www.victorianweb.org/painting/whh/replete/P
  14.html
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Holman_Hunt
• http//www.highbeam.com/library/docfree.asp?DOCID
  1G118533934ctrlInfoRound193AMode19b3ADocG3AR
  esultao