Watercolor, bodycolor, and gum arabic on paper with scratching out. 9. 84 x 7. 09 in. , 25 x 18 cm. This is another example of the innovative watercolors depicting night scenes illuminated by lamps, candles, lanterns, etc. , by william henry hunt. The artist introduced his new type of watercolor paintings in 1827, and he continued to paint and exhibit many genre night scenes at the annual exhibitions of the society of painters in water-colors until 1830. Unfortunately, a number of watercolors of night subjects which are superficially similar to hunt's authentic paintings began to appear at auction in the 1980s. These watercolors are always illuminated by candlelight and always bear signatures and dates within the 1827 - 1830 time period, but they are weakly painted and are clearly not by william henry hunt. They are either modern forgeries by someone generally familiar with hunt's work, or they are watercolors by a contemporary amateur admirer of hunt's candlelight watercolors, which were very popular and highly valued in 19th century england, to which forged signatures were probably added by someone at a later date to increase their market values.
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