William Gaunt (art historian), Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetWilliam Gaunt (art historian)
British artist and art historian
Date of Birth: 05-Jul-1900
Place of Birth: Kingston upon Hull, England, United Kingdom
Date of Death: 01-Jan-1980
Profession: art historian
Nationality: United Kingdom
Zodiac Sign: Cancer 
About William Gaunt (art historian)
- 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's The Tempest, his thoughts seriously turned to becoming a critic.
- He served briefly in World War I, fighting in the Durham Light Infantry 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 and Cyril Connolly.
- Graduating with honours in 1922, he studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing 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 various 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.
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