Edgar Hunt
Edgar Hunt was a British artist around the turn of the twentieth century who specialized in farmyard paintings of domestic animals. He was born in 1876 into a family of artists residing in Birmingham, England. Hunt’s grandfather Charles Hunt (1803-1877) and father Charles Hunt Jr (1829-1900) were both animal artists in their own right and played a large role in Edgar’s art education. He received no formal art training but began painting farmyard animals under his father’s tutelage. Hunt grew up with the intention of becoming a farmer and began working at a farm in Sussex prior to devoting himself solely to animal artistry. He became friends with J. F. Herring Jr. (1815-1907) who highly influenced his painting style.
Later in life, Hunt lived in the Midlands where pictures of his highly detailed fowl and farm animals were sought after by the wealthy middle-class society. He was best known for his chicken scenes as well as ducks and donkeys. Prior to his death in 1953, Edgar Hunt exhibited eleven animal paintings in the Royal Society of Artists in Birmingham. Though Hunt rarely exhibited his work, he found much success during his lifetime, despite his private and reclusive nature.