William Holman Hunt

The Ship

1875

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

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On loan

Palazzo Reale (Milan, Italy): Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Artist: William Holman Hunt 1827–1910
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 762 x 978 mm
frame: 1101 x 1305 x 135 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by subscribers 1907
Reference: N02120

Display caption

Hunt began this painting after a voyage to the East with his second wife, Edith. Unusually, he painted it largely from memory, rather than from life.The ship could be seen as a metaphor for Hunt's life and religious uncertainty. He wanted to suggest the idea of life as a journey ‘with no guidance from Him but the name of the port to be reached ... nothing but the silent stars to steer by for the heavily freighted ship and no welcome till the land is reached’. Perhaps the woman is Edith and the man at the wheel Hunt himself.

Gallery label, July 2007

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