ADAM'S Country House Collections 15th October 2019

166 Country House Collections Born in 1803, Charles Hunt was a British painter who specialised in genre scenes. In particular, he was adept at portray- ing humans and animals and often sought to bring an element of humour into his pieces. Exhibiting at the Royal Academy between the years of 1862 and 1863, Hunt played into the artistic fashion of the Victori- an era and presented romanticised scenes of rural peasant life to what would have been a largely aristocratic audience. As with other artists at the time, such as Erskine Nicol, Hunt ventured further afield than his native countryside and produced several works of an Irish persuasion. As was the wont, the ‘delicate’ issue of Irish deprivation, brought about by the famine years, was gently ignored and, instead, viewers in England were delighted with rosy cheeked, comical characters, such as the ones depicted in the current lot. Indeed, Hunt’s figures, though slightly dishevelled, appear to be in a merriment of good health, their ripped and fraying clothes displaying a rustic charm rather than a financial shortfall. In a similar manner, the basic interior nods towards a state of distress: the walls are cracked and flaking, the wood splintered and the thatch beginning to fall. However, despite this, the abode is clean. Hunt has ingeniously balanced along the line that separates mess and disrepair from that of dirt and a lack of hygiene. Indeed, one could only imagine at the odours embalming a house filled with farmyard animals and, yet, the images themselves suggest nothing but the fresh, earthy smell of the countryside. Whilst Hunt’s improvised versions of Irish life cannot be accredited with the title of history painting, his works beauti- fully capture and preserve the artistic tastes of the Victorian era. At a time when truth and scientific discovery were at the forefront of society, it is interesting to acknowledge the fantasy present within the work of so many 19th century painters. For the Victorian upper classes, it seems that art was an object behind which one could hide, a tantalising and light-hearted respite from the bombardment of factual revelation. 233 CHARLES HUNT (1857-1938) Irish cottage Interior with figures and animals A pair, oil on canvas, each 88 x 62.5cm Signed € 10,000 - 15,000