The Shadow of Death
William Holman Hunt (English, 1827-1910)
1873-74
View the original$18
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
This minutely detailed painting teems with symbolism as it imagines a scene from Jesus’s early life. It depicts the young Jesus stretching after his day’s labor in his father’s carpentry shop. His mother Mary kneels behind him, looking up at his shadow, which falls on a plank of wood hung with carpentry tools resembling a cross, prefiguring his crucifixion. An arched window creates a halo around Jesus’s head. The star-shaped aperture above the windows recalls the light that guided a group of priestly wise men, called Magi, to the newborn Jesus; Mary looks up from a trunk containing gift s the Magi gave on that occasion. A red headdress at Christ’s feet foreshadows the crown of thorns he will wear at his execution.
This canvas is the third and final version of a composition William Holman Hunt began in 1869 in Jerusalem, where he could study the setting from life. Hunt, like other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the art movement he helped found, was committed to direct observation of nature, and he sought to illustrate biblical subjects with archaeological exactitude. The muscular figures of Mary and Jesus, along with the precisely rendered carpentry tools, also reflect Victorian beliefs in the virtue of hard work.
The compisition was commissioned by the London dealers Thomas Agnew & Sons as the model for a print. The Art Institute’s collection also includes an early proof of that print.
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Original size
- 104.5 × 82 cm (41 × 32 1/4 in.)
Museum record · 1 owner · 7 exhibitions
Provenance
- Commissioned by Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, March 1873; sold to John Heugh, London, December 8, 1873; sold, Christie’s, London, March 17, 1877, lot 56, to Thomas Agnew & Sons London; sold to John Throgmorton, Middlemore, Birmingham, England, December 23, 1896; bequeathed to the trustees of the Middlemore Estate, 1925; consigned to Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, June 5, 1973; sold to private collector, August 13, 1975; sold Sotheby’s, November 2, 1994, lot 172, to Lord Lloyd-Webber; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2021.
Exhibitions
- Melbourne, The Centennial International Exhibition, Aug. 1, 1888-Mar. 9, 1889.
- Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, long term loan, 1905-1906.
- Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, long term loan, 1935-1973.
- Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, William Holman Hunt, Mar.-April 1969; London, Victoria and Albert Museum, May-June 1969.
- London, Thomas Agnew and Sons, Painting in England, 1630-1870, June 5-Jul.13, 1973.
- Baden-Baden, Germany, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Praraffaeliten, Nov. 23, 1973-Feb. 24, 1974.
- London, Royal Academy of Arts, Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, Sept. 20 – Dec. 12, 2003.
