The Shadow of Death

Art Historical Context

William Holman Hunt, a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, created this imposing mixed-method engraving in 1878. The Brotherhood, formed in 1848, championed meticulous detail, moral seriousness, and a return to early Renaissance sincerity. Hunt’s large-scale print demonstrates how Victorian artists used reproductive engraving to extend the reach of their most ambitious compositions beyond gallery walls, allowing wider audiences to encounter religious and symbolic themes. Measuring over a meter in height, the engraving on ivory chine paper laid onto a substantial off-white sheet required extraordinary technical precision. Mixed-method engraving combined line work with tonal processes, enabling subtle gradations of light and shadow that echo Hunt’s original painting’s dramatic effects. Such prints were both artistic statements and cultural artifacts, bridging fine art and popular devotion in the late nineteenth century. Today housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Prints and Drawings, the work preserves Hunt’s intense vision at monumental scale while highlighting the enduring importance of printmaking in shaping public understanding of Victorian art.

About the Artist

William Holman Hunt · 1813–1907

**William Holman Hunt (1827–1910)** was an English painter and a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, renowned for his meticulous attention to detail, vivid colors, and symbolic depth in both religious and contemporary subjects. Born William Hobman Hunt on 2 April 1827 in Cheapside, London, to a warehouse manager, he initially worked as an office clerk before gaining admission to th...