WHEN about fifteen years of age the future painter of "The Auld Man's Mare's
Dead'' saw at an International Exhibition a set of canvases revealing the
various stages of an artist's work, from the first immature sketch to the
finished painting. As he gazed he felt equal to emulating the first of the
series, and, fired with hope, he secretly determined to practise drawing and
painting at all leisure moments. He early applied himself to painting direct
from nature, and feeling that he was making progress, at last, at the age of 21,
abandoned the commercial career which had been intended for him, and took to the
painter's life. A love of nature led him to his métier, the study of cattle with
landscape and of genre subjects in figure. Several of his pictures have found
places in important collections. One of his exhibits at the Royal Academy, a
Highland fair subject, "Waiting for Buyers," was purchased by the Corporation of
Leeds for its permanent Art Gallery. Other canvases have found homes on both
sides of the Atlantic, and at the Paris Salon he has been the recipient of an
honourable mention. Among his larger works may be numbered "The Cattle Reivers,"
"Old Mortality," "The Caledonian Hunt, Cadzow Forest in the Olden Time,"
"Returning from Labour" (water colour), and "The Village Horse Fair," the
last-named suggested by a visit to Rutherglen, and purchased by the late D. E.
Outram when president of the Glasgow Fine Art Institute.
Mr. Hunt is a member of the Royal Scottish Water-Colour Society, has served on
the Council of the Royal Fine Art Institute of Glasgow, and was chosen President
of Glasgow Art Club in 1906 and 1907.
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Index of Glasgow Men (1909)