The Hireling Shepherd

William Holman Hunt · 1851

The Hireling Shepherd by William Holman Hunt

The story

The Hireling Shepherd (1851) is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt. It represents a shepherd neglecting his flock in favour of an attractive country girl to whom he shows a death's-head hawkmoth. The meaning of the image has been much debated.

Artist
William Holman Hunt
Date
1851
Collection
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom
Movement
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Medium
oil paint, canvas
Size
76.4 × 109.5 cm

Story adapted from the Wikipedia article and its contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

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