William Morris Hunt

A talented amateur musician, Ellen Brown of Providence was 18 years old when she posed for Hunt. As in this portrait of Miss Brown, Hunt’s practice was to compose the figure with broad masses of light and dark, then refine details with thin washes of color and highlights of thick impasto. The preeminent American painter and teacher had social connections in Boston and Rhode Island and conducted a summer art school in Newport. Hunt received his artistic training in Paris and later promoted the work of French realist painters, applying their techniques to his American subjects.