William Hough Stiff Life of Peaches, Plums, and Grapes
- Paper
- Watercolor
The Victorian still-life painter William Hough began his career working in Coventry and later moved to London. He exhibited flower and fruit still lifes at the Royal Academy and at the New Watercolour Society between 1857 and 1894. He also exhibited at the Royal Society of Artists, Coventry; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; and the Manchester City Art Gallery. Although he specialized in still lifes, Hough was also known to have painted landscapes.
Hough was a follower of William Henry “Birds Nest” Hunt (1790-1864), an artist primarily remembered for his meticulously executed still lifes, and for his nickname — “Bird’s Nest,” because of his many pictures of bird’s nests tucked away in mossy banks or nestled among dry leaves. Hunt was a popular teacher whose subject matter, style, and technique were adapted by a host of imitators. Like the works of his mentor, Hough’s watercolors emphasize naturalness and an extraordinary attention to detail called for by the English critic and writer John Ruskin. His watercolors of fruits and flowers are striking, and he frequently assembled unusual groupings and compositions, as in Still Life of Peaches, Plums and Grapes, which is an unusually large work for him.