Information
This painting illustrates a scene where the child Jesus visits the temple and astonishes the rabbis with his learning and understanding. As described by Bronkhurst, this was Hunt's major figure subject begun on his first visit to Jerusalem. The painting was a popular success, with two engravings produced in 1867 and 1893. A smaller version of the same subject is in the collection of the National Museums of Liverpool. A key plate identifying the figures in the scene was published by E Gambert & Co. in 1867, a copy of which is in Birmingham's collections.
- Presented by Sir John T Middlemore Bt., 1896.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Makers
Association |
Artist |
Organisation |
Artist |
William Holman Hunt |
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Inscriptions
Type |
Position(s) |
Method |
Date(s) |
Notes |
Inscribed on the gate of the Temple in Latin and Hebrew;/ on the ivory slip of the frame above: The finding of the Saviour in the Temple; on the ivory slip of the frame at left (from St Luke 2: 45-51): Anh when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem seeking him. And, after three days, they found him in the Temple below: And when they saw him they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son why hast thou dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. and he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?;/ ar right: And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. |
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Exhibitions
Catalogue No. |
Venue |
Date(s) |
Exhibition of Holman Hunt's Picture of 'The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple' |
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German Gallery, New Bond Street, London |
1860-04-18 - 1860-12-31 |
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Exhibited alone |
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German Gallery, New Bond Street, London |
1861-03-14 - 1861-08-16 |
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Tour - Leeds, Truro, J. & R. Jennings, Manchester, Plymouth, Bristol, Belfast, Dublin, Dover, French Gallery and Carlisle |
1863 - 1868 |
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Exhibited alone |
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German Gallery, New Bond Street, London |
1861-03-14 - 1861-08-16 |
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Tour - Leeds, Truro, J. & R. Jennings, Manchester, Plymouth, Bristol, Belfast, Dublin, Dover, French Gallery and Carlisle |
1863 - 1868 |
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Messrs E Gambart & Co, King Street, London |
1869-04 - 1869-04 |
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Loan Collection of Pictures |
119 |
Guildhall, Corporation of London Art Gallery |
1894-04-02 - 1894-06-30 |
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Thirty-First Autumn Exhibition of Modern Pictures in Oil and Water-Colours |
1160 |
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
1901-09-16 - 1902-01-04 |
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Exhibition of the Collected Works of W Holman Hunt |
32 |
Leicester Galleries, London |
1906-10-06 - 1906-11-17 |
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The Collected Works of W Holman Hunt, O.M., D.C.L. |
11 |
Manchester City Art Gallery |
1906-12-03 - 1907-01-27 |
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Collective Exhibition of the Art of W Holman Hunt, O.M., D.C.L. |
45 |
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery |
1907-02-02 - 1907-03-02 |
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Loan Exhibition of Works by Ford Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelites |
230 |
Manchester City Art Gallery |
1911-09-14 - 1911-11 |
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Loan Collection of Works by English Pre-Raphaelites Painters lent by the Art Gallery Committee of the Birmingham Corporation |
23 |
National Gallery of British Art (now Tate Gallery, London) |
1911-12 - 1912-03 |
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'The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood' (1848-1862) |
44 |
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
1947-06-07 - 1947-07-27 |
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Peintures et aquarelles anglaises 1700-1900 du musee de Birmingham |
69 |
Lyons, Musee des Beaux-Arts |
1966-09-23 - 1966-11-20 |
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William Holman Hunt |
31, repro |
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery |
1969-03-25 - 1969-04-29 |
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The Pre-Raphaelites |
85, repro |
Tate Gallery, London |
1984-03-07 - 1984-05-28 |
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Crystal Palace at Sydenham |
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Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
2004-02-04 - 2004-04-18 |
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Holman Hunt and the Pre Raphaelite Vision |
Plate 47 |
Manchester City Art Galleries |
2008-10-11 - 2009-01-11 |
Plate 47 |
Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada |
2009-02-14 - 2009-05-10 |
Plate 47 |
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, US |
2009-06-13 - 2009-09-06 |
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Literature
Author(s) |
Date(s) |
Publisher |
Pages |
Memoir and Letters of the late Thomas Seddon, Artist, by his Brother |
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1858 |
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pp. 93, 101, 108-09 |
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Athenaeum |
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25 February 1860; 21 April 1860 |
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p. 274; pp. 549-550 |
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Art Journal |
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1 June 1860; 1 July 1860 |
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p. 182; p.222 |
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Once a Week III |
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14 July 1860 |
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PP. 64-66 |
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William Holman Hunt and his Works: A Memoir of the Artist's Life, with Description of his Pictures |
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1860 |
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pp. 37, 40-41, 45-46, 50-51, 56-79, 81-82, 85-115 |
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The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood: A Fight for Art |
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April 1886 |
Contemporary Review XLIX, Part I |
PP. 828-29, 831-32 |
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'Paintiing The Scapegoat' |
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July 1887 |
Contemporary Review LII |
PP. 214, 217-18 |
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The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, President of the Royal Academy |
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1899 |
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I, p. 357 |
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Ruskin; Rossetti; Preraphaelitism; Papers 1854-1862 |
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1899 |
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p. 281 |
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Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood |
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1905 |
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I, PP. 391, 406-408ff; II,PP.4,9ff |
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Loan Collection of Works by English Pre-Raphaelite Painters lent by the Art Committee of the Birmingham Corporation |
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1911 |
National Gallery of British Art, London |
p. 8; repr. facing p. 8 |
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Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
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1965-67 |
Oxford |
I, PP.300 ff |
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The Price of Work: The Background to its First Exhibition |
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1984 |
Pre-Raphaelite Papers |
pp. 145, 150 |
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An Introduction to Victorian Painting |
Kenneth Bendiner |
1985 |
New Haven and London |
pp. 65-77 |
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The Artist as Anthropologist |
Mary Cowling |
1989 |
Cambridge C. U. P |
p. 109-11. |
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The Portrayal of the Middle East in British Painting |
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1995 |
Ann Arbour, Michigan |
pp. 82-83ff |
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The Correspondence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti; The Formative Years 1835-1862 |
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2002 |
Cambridge |
II, 56.29, p.119ff |
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William Holman Hunt: A Catalogue Raisonne |
Judith Bronkhurst |
2006 |
Yale University Press, New Haven and London |
cat.86 |
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Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision |
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2008 |
Art Gallery of Ontario |
pl. 47 |
Provenance
Bought in instalments by Ernest Gambert, May 1860-November 1861; bought Thomas e Plint, Leeds in instalments commencing November 1860; his executors; bought Gambart April 1864; bought Charles P Matthews April 1870; sold by his executors, Christie's 6 June 1891 (59) bought Agnew; bought John Throgmorten Middlemore, Birmingham 30 May 1896 £3,570 for presentation to City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1896. |
Lot 59. |
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