Mr. Holman-Hunt, who died on Wednesday at the age of
eighty-three, was one of the three founders of the Pre- Raphaelite movement, but, unlike his associates, remained faithful to its principles to the very end. The calling of the painter was to him a high and exalted mission ; he shared Watts's absolute repudiation of the doctrine of " art for art's sake," and he devoted his high and austere talent to the service of Christianity. Anything more unlike the conventional notion of an artist it would be difficult to imagine, and yet he commanded not only the respect but the affection of his colleagues. If his technical equipment had equalled his sincerity and strength of character, he would have been one of the greatest of modern English painters ; as it is, he remains the noblest example of the artist as preacher.
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