The Hurdy-Gurdy Boy
Medium
lithograph in black with tan stone tint on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 19.05 × 14.61 cm (7 1/2 × 5 3/4 in.) sheet: 38.1 × 30.32 cm (15 × 11 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Alice F. Williams)
Accession Number
2015.19.915
Art Historical Context
William Morris Hunt’s *The Hurdy-Gurdy Boy* (1857) captures a charming moment of everyday street life through the delicate medium of lithography. Printed in black with a warm tan stone tint on w paper, the work showcases Hunt’s ability to convey texture and mood with subtle tonal gradations. The young musician, centered in the composition, holds his hurdy-gurdy—an instrument traditionally associated with itinerant performers—inviting viewers to pause and consider the fleeting presence of such figures in mid-nineteenth-century Europe and America. As a print, this lithograph reflects the growin...
About the Artist
William Morris Hunt · 1824–1879
American, Brattleboro, Vermont 1824–1879 Appledore, New Hampshire