Coleridge, Mary E.

William Holman Hunt was born in London on 2 April 1827. A clerk for several years, he left the world of trade to study at the British Museum and the National Gallery. In 1844 he entered the Royal Academy. Here he joined with Millais and Rossetti to develop the Pre-Raphaelite theories of art and, in 1848, to found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His first canvas to interpret these themes was Rienzi, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849. In 1854 Hunt went to the Holy Land to portray scenes from the life of Christ, aiming to achieve total historical and archaelogical truth. He returned to Pales...