William Gaunt (; 1900–1980) was a British artist and art historian, best known for his books on British 19th-century art. Born the son of a graphic designer and chromolithographer, Gaunt dabbled in drawing and writing as a youth. In 1914, after winning a literary contest in '' The Connoisseur'' for an essay on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's '' The Tempest'', his thoughts seriously turned to becoming a critic. He served briefly in World War I, fighting in the

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

in 1918, until the war ended that year. The following year he attended Worcester College, Oxford, where he read modern history and participated in the Art Society. At Oxford, his friends included

John Rothenstein Sir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein (11 July 1901 – 27 February 1992) was a British arts administrator and art historian. Biography John Rothenstein was born in London in 1901, the son of Sir William Rothenstein. The family was connect ...

and

Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine '' Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote '' Enemies of Promise'' (1938), which comb ...

. Graduating with honours in 1922, he studied at the

Ruskin School of Drawing The Ruskin School of Art, known as the Ruskin, is an art school at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. History The Ruskin grew out the Oxford School of Art, which was founded in 1865 and later became ...

and wrote reviews of art exhibitions. He worked as a free-lance contributor for '' The Studio'' magazine, editing several special issues. Gaunt was fascinated by the Pre-Raphaelites, at that time undervalued as Victorian. He published in 1942 his most enduring title on that subject, ''The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy''. He completed an M.A. in 1926. In 1930 he published a collection of his drawings, called ''London Promenade''. 1935 he married Mary Catherine Reilly Connolly (died, 1980). The years 1930-39 were spent writing literary and artistic criticism, including ''The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy''. During the Second World-War, he took a special appointment for the war effort and researched for the book ''The Aesthetic Adventure''. The Gaunts lived in a country cottage near the Surrey Hampshire borders.As at 28 July 2018, all text fro
Dictionary of Art Historians
/ref>

Selected publications

*''The Aesthetic Adventure'' *''The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy'' *''The Pre-Raphaelite Dream'' *''The March of the Moderns'' *''Impressionists'' *''Victorian Olympus'' *''English Painting: A Concise History'' *''Turner: Colour Library'' *''Court Painting in England from Tudor to Victorian Times'' *''A Concise History of English painting'', ' The World of Art Library' series. Thames & Hudson, London, 1964. *''Golden Age of Flemish Art'' *''Renoir: Colour Library'' *''Arrows of Desire: A Study of William Blake and His Romantic World'' *''Everyman's Dictionary of Pictorial Art''. Vol.1 *''The Great Century of British Painting : Hogarth to Turner'' *''Painters of Fantasy : from Hieronymus Bosch to Salvador Dalí'' *''The Observer's Book of Painting and Graphic art'' *''William De Morgan: Pre-Raphaelite Ceramics'' *''Restless Century: Painting in Britain, 1800-1900'' *''Turner'' *''The World of William Hogarth'' *''The Observer's Book of Modern Art: From Impressionism to the Present Day'' *''The Observer's Book of Sculpture''

Selected publications

References

Further reading