Chaffinch nest and May blossom

William Henry Hunt was renowned for his minutely rendered watercolours of fruit, flowers and birds’ nests, earning him the nickname ‘Birds’ Nest Hunt’. Despite its air of simplicity, this still life was painstakingly created in the studio. To achieve such illusionism, Hunt used stippling (small, closely packed dots of pigment) in subtle combinations of colour and layered bright watercolour washes over an underlayer of white. Younger artists like Frederick Walker, whose work is seen nearby, were strongly influenced by Hunt’s technique.