Catalogue description William Hunter 1718-1783 L. 1756

By John Zoffany

Represents Hunter standing on a platform in the Royal Academy, lecturing as professor of anatomy; wearing a long grey skirted coat and breeches, with white stockings; white wig; his right hand resting on the back of a male model, stripped to the waist, who stands with his right arm stretched up, wearing pale buff breeches and white stockings; his arm supported by a man standing behind him; at the extreme right, a skeleton hanging; on the left of the platform, on a pedestal, a cast of a naked man with arm upraised and back towards the spectator; on the left of the picture, sitting in chairs or standing, are Hunter's audience: most of the figures are difficult to identify, but Sir Joshua Reynolds is clearly discernible with his ear-trumpet; the room is lit by a lamp hung from the ceiling, with a circular shade above and a reflector between the light and the spectator.

Painted about 1775, it recalls, but with less finish and attention to detail, the painting called the Life School at the Royal Academy in the Royal Collection, in which Hunter also figures, as also the same écorché statue.

Presented in 1825 by Mrs. Baillie, wife of the sitter's nephew and heir, Matthew Baillie; said to have come from Hunter's own collection

Exhibited at the National Portrait Exhibition, 1867; the International Exhibition, London, 1862; Royal Academy (Winter Exhibition), 1871; Whitechapel, 1906.

Annals, 22 December 1823; 1864 Catalogue, p. 12; Roll, III, 397; 1900 List; 1926 Catalogue; R. Hingston Fox, William Hunter, 1901, p. 64, no. 5; V. Manners and G. C. Williamson, John Zoffany, 1920, p. 226.

William Hunter was born at Kilbride, in Lanarkshire. He was sent to the University of Glasgow at the age of fourteen. He spent five years there, and won the reputation of being a first-class scholar. When he was nineteen, he turned to medicine, studying in Edinburgh and eventually in London, where he arrived in 1741. Hunter began to give lectures himself in surgery in 1746 and later lectured in anatomy, which had become his chief interest.

In the early part of his career, Hunter practised both surgery and midwifery, but he never liked surgery and he gradually concentrated on midwifery, rapidly building up a busy practice and obtaining appointments at the Middlesex Hospital and the British Lying-In Hospital. He was consulted by Queen Charlotte in 1762 and was later appointed physician-extraordinary to the Queen. Hunter acquired sufficient wealth through his success in practice to be able to found an anatomy school in London. He built a spacious house in Great Windmill Street in 1770, where he established lecture theatres, dissecting rooms and a museum. The latter came to hold an outstanding anatomical and pathological collection, to be surpassed only in those times by the collections and specimens accumulated by his famous brother and protégé, John Hunter. William gradually added a superb library, a collection of medals bought for over £20,000 and a great variety of natural history specimens, all eventually left to Glasgow University with a sum of £8,000 for maintenance.

Dr. Matthew Baillie said of William Hunter that "he was perhaps the best teacher of anatomy that ever lived." He lived simply, worked extremely hard, and as a man was unassuming, with a pleasant manner and sincere concern for his patients.