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William Morris Hunt

William Morris Hunt Biography

Artist

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“It's no easy matter to paint a background. I venture to say that the old painters had more difficulty with their grounds than with their figures. You know the story of Vandyke brought to Rubens with this recommendation: 'He already knows how to paint a background.' 'That is more than I can do!' was the reply.”

KnowsI CanMatterStoriesEasyCan DoKnow HowFiguresDifficultyPaintBackgroundsPainterVentureRecommendationsRubens
Book:William Morris Hunt on painting and drawing
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“Most of us live for the critic, and he lives on us. He doesn't sacrifice himself. He gets so much a line for writing a criticism. If the birds should read the newspapers, they would all take to changing their notes. The parrots would exchange with the nightingales, and what a farce it would be!”

IfsShouldWritingWould BeLinesSacrificeBirdCriticismNotesCriticsNewspapersParrotsNightingalesFarce
Book:W.M. Hunt's Talks about Art: With a Letter from J.E. Millais
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“Beauty is that little something that fills the whole world, and is contained neither in a single straight nose, a long eyelash, nor a blue mountain. Some see it in a leg of mutton, others in a compound fracture; and to expect others to accept one's own definition of it is as absurd as to expect all humanity to use the same toilet-brush.”

WorldLittlesLongWholeUseHumanityAcceptingMountainBlueDefinitionsLegsWhole WorldAbsurdNosesBrushesToiletsCompoundsEyelashesFractureMutton
Book:W.M. Hunt's Talks about Art: With a Letter from J.E. Millais
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“Let me give you a few simple rules for learning to draw. First, see of what shape the whole thing is. Next, put in the line that marks the movement of the whole. Don't have more than one movement in a figure; you can't patch parts together. Simple lines; then simple values. Establish the fact of the whole. Is it square, oblong, cube, or what is it?”

GivingFirstsWholeFactsTogetherValuesNextLinesSimpleFiguresMovementShapesDrawsLet MeMarkSquaresPatchesCubes
Book:William Morris Hunt on painting and drawing
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