HUNT WILLIAM HOLMAN: (1827-1910) English Painter, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. An ...

HUNT WILLIAM HOLMAN: (1827-1910) English Painter, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. An interesting portion of a working Autograph Manuscript, unsigned, with corrections, two pages, oblong 8vo, n.p., n.d. (c.1906) The manuscript concerns Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting Ecce Ancilla Domini (or The Annunciation) and a work by Raphael and states, in part, 'We will not presume in consent to lay down the law about his merits but I think there is no reason why I should not state my own view about one of his painting[s] which I saw at the National Gallery a few weeks since. It was a copying day. I had gone in mainly to see the new Raffaelle and I had seen it and had enjoyed the contemplation of many more of our precious possessions……In turning about to see that I was in nobody's way the picture of The Annunciation by Rossetti seemed to speak to me long forgotten words. I approached, it was being copied by two ladies, and I felt at once that they had made a wise selection. The living merit of the work made it stand out as among the most genuine creations in the gallery, and I distinctly concluded that there was no painting there done by hands so young as Rossetti's were when he did that, which could be compared to it. He was twenty one at the time, Raffaelle was twenty four when he painted the Ansidei Madonna. Raffaelle's picture altho' of course more complex, and having special value as containing evidence of the steps by which he reached his final excellence, is not to be compared to it for the difficulty of the attempt, or for the artis[try]'. The fragments are numbered 19 and 20 in red indelible pencil to the upper left corners and both have some light age wear, a few tears and minor areas of paper loss, none of which significantly affect the text. G £150-200 Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) English Poet, Illustrator & Painter, a co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti painted Ecce Ancilla Domini (or The Annunciation) in 1849-50, deliberately using a limited colour range. The oil painting received mixed reviews and was heavily criticised in some quarters when it was first exhibited in 1850 and Rossetti vowed never to show it in public again, continuing to work on it until 1853. It was then sold to Francis McCracken, an early patron of the Pre-Raphaelites, for £50 and the National Gallery of British Art (now Tate Britain) acquired the work in 1886. Raphael (1483-1520) Italian Painter & Architect of the High Renaissance. The present fragments are part of William Holman Hunt's original working manuscript for his work Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which was published by Macmillan, London, in 1906.