READING THE LEAGUE, originally known as The Corn Question, - Or the Puzzled Politician. signed 'W. HUNT' (lower left) pencil and watercolour with scratching out 16½ x 10¾in. (41.9 x 27.3cm.)
Provenance: Lewis Pocock, 1844 James Fallowes, 1857-1862. Thomas Johnson, 1873-1887. Charles Woodbridge (s) Christie's, 28 Nov. 1924, lot 26 (p) 16gns., Robertson. Anon. sale, Sotheby's, 12 Nov. 1966, lot 300 (p) 75 gns., A. Mathews. (s) Christie's, 2 April 1996, lot 55, (p) £8,625, $13,151, by the present owner.
Exhibited: Manchester, Exhibition of Art Treasures, 1857, no.523 as 'Consulting the League' London, International Exhibition, 1862, no.1053. Leeds, Exhibition of Works of Art, 1868, no.2238. London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters, 1873, no.353 . Manchester, Old Trafford, Royal Jubilee Exhibition, 1887. no.1740.
Engraved: Hunt's Comic Sketches, 1844, pl.XIV, as 'The Corn Question, -- or the Puzzled Politician'.
This watercolor of a boy reading a newspaper was chosen to be engraved for the 1844 book, Hunt's Comic Sketches. There is some meaning in the full title, but if there was once widespread understanding of that meaning, it is most likely lost on modern viewers. Like so many of the images included in the book, there just doesn't seem to be any hint of the comic in this otherwise nice watercolor.
I won't leave you hanging, the reference in the title is to the attempts by the British government to XXX The Anti Corn Law League was founded in Manchester and grew under the leadership of Richard Cobden, who together with John Bright influenced the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.
Note the clay pipe on the floor. Such pipes appear repeatedly in William Henry Hunt's work, either in the hands of old men, being used by young boys to blow bubbles, or on the floors of many an untidy cottage.
