Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-holman-hunt-287" aria-label="More by William Holman Hunt" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Holman Hunt</a>
Ship
Presented by subscribers 1907
adults
astronomy
Hunt, William Holman, Mrs
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
man
moon
named individuals
night
objects
people
sailor
ship, steam
society
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, ‘In Memoriam’
times of the day
tools and machinery
trading and commercial
transport: water
wheel
woman
work and occupations
<p>Hunt began this painting after a voyage to the East with his second wife, Edith. Unusually, he painted it largely from memory, rather than from life.The ship could be seen as a metaphor for Hunt's life and religious uncertainty. He wanted to suggest the idea of life as a journey ‘with no guidance from Him but the name of the port to be reached ... nothing but the silent stars to steer by for the heavily freighted ship and no welcome till the land is reached’. Perhaps the woman is Edith and the man at the wheel Hunt himself.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
12 July 2003 – 15 August 2004
2004-08-15
12 July 2003 – 28 September 2003
2003-09-28
2003-07-12
Art Gallery of Western Australia (Perth, Australia)
25 October 2003 – 15 February 2004
2004-02-15
2003-10-25
Dunedin Public Art Gallery (Dunedin, New Zealand)
http://www.dunedin.art.museum
14 May 2004 – 15 August 2004
2004-08-15
2004-05-14
Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, USA)
2003-07-12
The Pre-Raphaelite Dream: Paintings and Drawings from the Tate Collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
14 December 2018 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
19 June 2019 – 6 October 2019
2019-10-06
2019-06-19
Palazzo Reale (Milan, Italy)
13 May 2021 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
2021-05-13
Hungarian National Gallery (Budapest, Hungary)
2018-12-14
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Tate partnerships & programmes
The Ship
support: 762 × 978 mm
frame: 1101 × 1305 × 135 mm
Presented by subscribers 1907
<p>Hunt began this painting after a voyage to the East with his second wife, Edith. Unusually, he painted it largely from memory, rather than from life.The ship could be seen as a metaphor for Hunt's life and religious uncertainty. He wanted to suggest the idea of life as a journey ‘with no guidance from Him but the name of the port to be reached ... nothing but the silent stars to steer by for the heavily freighted ship and no welcome till the land is reached’. Perhaps the woman is Edith and the man at the wheel Hunt himself.</p>

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2007-07-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
adults astronomy Hunt, William Holman, Mrs literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) man moon named individuals night objects people sailor ship, steam society Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, ‘In Memoriam’ times of the day tools and machinery trading and commercial transport: water wheel woman work and occupations