CE -- A lifetime of collecting comic related material :: Hunt, William Henry (1790 - 1864) - Complete Collection

1 TOO HOT! 1832

Artist: William Henry Hunt (All)

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Artwork Details

Title:	1 TOO HOT! 1832
Artist:	William Henry Hunt (All)
Media Type:	Paint - Watercolor
Art Type:	Other
For Sale Status:	0
Views:	131
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	2/18/2013
Comic Art Archive:

Description

William Henry Hunt, Too Hot! (1832)

Hot Bread and Milk, later know as Too Hot!
Pencil and watercolor with extensive scratching out
14.5/8 X 10 5/8 inches

Exhibited:
1832, London, Society of Painters in Water-Colours, No. , Hot Bread and Milk
1857, Manchester, Art Treasures of Great Britain, No. 1620
1871, London, Royal Academy, Loan Exhibition
1887, Manchester, Royal Juilee Exhibition
1894, London, Corp. of London, Guildhall, Loan Collection,
1896 London, Guildhall
1890s, London, On extended loan to the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood,
1901, West Ham Free Picture Exhibition
1990, San Marino, California, The Huntington Library, Art Galleries, and Botanical Gardens

Provenance:
Charles Langton (S) 1854, Town Hall, Liverpool, Lot No. 86,(P) Bought In;
(S) Christie'ss 17 May 1862, Lot No. 69 (P) 300 gns. Wallis (French Gallery?);
John Leigh Clare of Thoxteth Old-hall, Liverpool (S) Chrisite's 28 March 1868, Lot No. 21 (P) 525 gns. Vokins;
William Quilter (S) Christie's 9 April 1875, Lot No. 227 (P) 750 gns. Agnew;
Agnew (S) 9 April 1875, Inv. No. 3150 (P) H.W.F. Bolcckow, MP;
Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow, M.P., Martron Hall, Middlesborough;
C. F. H. Bolckow (inherited in 1878), (S) Christie's 18 June 1892, Lot No. 134 (P) 340 gns., Agnew;
Agnew (S) 20 June 1892, Inv. No. 630 (P) George James;
George James, Trafalger Square, London (S) Chrisitie's 10 April 1897, Lot No. 55, (P) 500 gns. Agnew;
Agnew (S) 12 February 1898, Inv. No. 2010 (P) £630 Dowager Duchess of Sutherland;
Mary, Duchess of Sutherland (S) 3 March 1900 (P) Agnew;
Agnew (S) 5 March 1900, Inv. No. 2954 (P) R. E. Tatham;
R. E. Tatham, 5 Portman Square, London (S) Christie's 29 Feb 1908, Lot No. 66 (P) 540 gns. Agnew;
Agnew (S) 7 March 1908, Inv. No. 6417 (P) J. Beecham;
Sir Joseph Beecham, Lympne Castle, near Hythe, Kent (S) Christie's 4 May 1917, Lot No. 127 (P) 390 gns. Agnew;
Agnew (S) 4 May 1917, Inv. No. 8568 (P) W. H. Barratt;
Mrs. Dorothy B. Walker (inherited in 1936) (S) Christie's 18 March 1986, Lot No. 115 (P) £8,500.

By almost any standard, this was the most successful single watercolor ever painted by William Henry Hunt. It shows John Swain, the son of a fisherman from Hastings, England, at age 5. The boy eats a bowl of hot bread and milk while an old dog longingly looks on. The work was originally exhibited at the 1832 annual exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours under the title, Hot Bread and Milk.

This watercolor was included in more public exhibitions than any other work by Hunt. It was also the most reproduced in books and periodicals of all his watercolors. The painting set the record price for any work by the artist many times when it appeared at auction -- the highest price of any work sold within Hunt's lifetime, of any Hunt watercolor sold in the 19th century, and the highest price for any work by the artist which was sold up to 1986, when it last appeared at auction. It was owned by several of the wealthiest Englishmen of the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Joseph Beecham, the first man to make extensive use of advertising and the third richest man in the United Kingdom at one time.

The dog in this watercolor was created by Hunt's first darkening the area with gum arabic (used for producing dark areas of watercolors) then scraping back down to the underlying paper. This resulted in a rough texture to simulate the appearance of fur. The artist then went back over the figure with watercolor to add the dog's features.

Because it appeared several times at auction in the 19th century, it has been reported that there was more than one version of this watercolor. While there is at least one other watercolor of the same subject (but with an older boy and no dog), this is the only known work by Hunt which shows this image. The ownership can be traced without a break back from the present time to 1856. Moreover, there are exhibition labels on the back of the frame for all of the English public art exhibits in which it was shown. Therefore, this is certainly the watercolor which, more than any other, brought William Henry Hunt fame.

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Last Login:	August 2025
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