WILLIAM M. HUNT
Before we come to the group of present workers in mural painting it is necessary that we consider an earlier man, again one of the pioneers, the artist William M. Hunt of Boston, who in 1878 obtained the commission to decorate the New York state capitol at Albany. The result was a fine series of pictures, well composed; but unfortunately they survive only in reproductions, the originals having been painted directly on the walls. These, owing to faulty construction, did not long remain intact, falling out of plumb, and they had to be supported by beams until they were finally entirely destroyed. Hunt had been a pupil of Thomas Couture (koo-toor´) in Paris, a man who had strong influence on his work, and these decorations were very reminiscent of his master. The pictures were fifteen by forty-five feet in size, and the themes were “The Flight of Night” and “The Discoverer,” of which only photographs remain to tell the tale.
Today the mural painter produces his work on canvas instead of on the wall, a process that enables him to do most of the labor in the studio, and in case of necessity this, after being attached to the walls, can be taken down again and so preserved.