COLOUR STUDY

Colour palette

#1D1A18
#33231F
#342B25
#45362E
#492B26
#715E51

Approximate colour proportions

#1D1A1824.5%
#33231F20.4%
#342B2517.5%
#45362E14.9%
#492B2613.4%
#715E519.3%

Estimated from six colour groups in the museum image, including visible paper or borders. Reproduction and lighting affect the result; these are image-area proportions, not pigment measurements.

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image licence: CC0 · Museum record & image source ↗

England, 19th century · 1868

Mary Walker Waugh

William Holman Hunt

Date: 1868
Medium: oil on fabric
Dimensions: Framed: 115.5 x 95.5 x 6 cm (45 1/2 x 37 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 86.2 x 66.1 cm (33 15/16 x 26 in.)
Country / context: England
Movement / tradition: European and American art
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Attribution / role: Museum attribution
Pathway: European and American art ↗

FROM THE MUSEUM

William Holman Hunt painted this portrait of Mary Walker Waugh (1805–1886)—his mother-in-law—during a time of personal tragedy. Waugh’s daughter Fanny Waugh Hunt (1832–1866), the wife of the artist, had recently died following childbirth. References to loss of life infiltrate the composition: the sitter wears black mourning attire, and behind her is a screen decorated with red poppies, a traditional symbol of unconsciousness and lifelessness because of its pharmaceutical use as a source for opiates. In Victorian society, the red poppy also signified consolation.

Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

Place in the artist’s career

The 1851 graphite study prepares a painted narrative; the 1868 portrait gives oil colour a role in remembrance and character; the 1879 etching translates feeling into line. Compare the intended use of each work before judging its finish. Precise detail can serve symbolism, observation or personal memory rather than one fixed purpose.