Self Portrait

William Holman Hunt

Date: 1845 

Materials: Oil on canvas

This canvas was painted early in 1845, the year in which Hunt entered the Royal Academy Schools, where he met Rossetti and continued an acquaintance already made with Millais. According to a handwritten note formerly attached to the frame:

This portrait was painted when W. H. H. could not afford a new canvas. He therefore used one that he had used for a picture of his little sister called 'Hark!' which was exhibited at the R. A. in 1846. The original picture was not properly re-primed. At the time W. H. H. thought he bore a striking resemblance to Hogarth, & he sought to emphasise the likeness in this painting.