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A converted British Family sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids

William Holman Hunt (1827–1910)

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

A converted British Family sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids

Image credit: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

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Originally conceived as an entry on the theme 'An Act of Mercy' for a Gold Medal competition at the Royal Academy in 1849, this painting depicts an early incident in the history of the English church. A Christian family is hiding a priest from a crowd of heathens and Druids, who have already caught another priest in the background. The painting is full of symbolic allusions, in keeping with contemporary High Anglican thinking: the priest recalls Christ and his disciples, the child with the fur loincloth John the Baptist and the older youth squeezing grapes evokes the Eucharist. It was one of Hunt's earliest Pre-Raphaelite paintings and caused controversy when exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1850.

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

Oxford

Read more on The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Title

A converted British Family sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids

Date

1850

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 111 x W 141 cm

Accession number

WA1894.1

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Thomas Combe, 1893

Work type

Painting

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The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

Beaumont Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 2PH England

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Artist or maker

William Holman Hunt

1827–1910

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