Leavitt Hunt

Leavitt Hunt (1831–1907) was a Harvard-educated attorney and photography pioneer who was one of the first people to photograph the Middle East. He and a companion, Nathan Flint Baker, traveled to Egypt, the Holy Land, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece on a Grand Tour in 1851-52, making one of the earliest photographic records of the Arab and ancient worlds, including the Great Sphinx and the Great Pyramid, views along the Nile River, the ruins at Petra and the Parthenon in Greece.

The youngest son of Jonathan Hunt of Vermont and the former Jane Maria Leavitt, and brother to architect Richard Morris Hunt and painter William Morris Hunt [The fourth brother was Jonathan Leavitt, a graduate of the University of Paris who became a medical doctor in Paris. Like his brother, painter William Morris Hunt, Jonathan Hunt was an apparent suicide, at age forty-nine in Paris. [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hunt/archive/bios/jonathan.txt] ] , Leavitt Hunt was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, but grew up in Paris following the early death of his father Jonathan Hunt, a Vermont Congressman whose father had been Lieutenant Governor.

Leavitt Hunt attended the Boston Latin School, and subsequently transferred to a Swiss boarding school, finally taking a law degree from the University of Heidelberg. He then enrolled at the Swiss Military Academy in Thun. Hunt was a scholar: he was fluent in French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and could write both Farsi and Sanskrit. [Known as the scholar in the family, Hunt was offered a professorship at Princeton, then known as the College of New Jersey, but turned it down in favor of his interests in the law, travel and the arts.]

Hunt's companion on his Middle Eastern journey was a wealthy sculptor from Ohio and friend of the Hunt family. Nathan Flint Baker had been travelling in Europe for a decade, and announced his intention to travel through the MIddle East. Hunt decided to join him, meeting him in Florence, Italy, in late September 1851.

Hunt and Baker spent several weeks in Rome practicing photography, and then sailed from Naples to Malta and eventually up the Nile River into the Sinai Peninsula, to Petra (where they were among the first to photograph the ruins), then on to Jerusalem, to what is today Lebanon, then on to Constantinople and Athens, before returning to Paris in May 1852.

Hunt's and Baker's photographs were dazzling, especially for a brand-new medium many had never seen before. They photographed the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza, the templex complex at Karnak, the Ramesseum at Thebes, and the ruins on the Island of Philae. They travelled farther to photograph the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai, the tombs and temples of Petra, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the ruins at Baalbek, and finally the buildings of the Acropolis in Athens.

The 60 extant photographs from their journey show that Hunt and Baker were keen on the new medium and familiar with its techniques. It was a real partnership: both men brought their own strengths to the process, and images that survive demonstrate their aesthetic acumen as well as their journalistic desire to show the settings in which they worked. One image of an unveiled Ghawazee female dancer, signed on the negative by Hunt himself, is likely the earliest photographic portrait of a Middle Eastern woman. Another image of the less photogenic view from the rear of the Parthenon demonstrates two men unafraid to indulge their take on a revered landmark.

The trip was a logistics challenge. Accompanying the two travelers for part of the journey were Leavitt Hunt's older brother, the architect Richard Morris Hunt, and two other friends. The group hired a "dahaheah" [A "dahaheah" was a large houseboat with triangular cross-sails. The rear of the boat sported a cabin, where the chartering party could sleep. Typically, they took their meals on the roof of the cabin under a large awning. This means of conveyance was typically used by English and other foreign tourists on the Nile in the nineteenth century. The crew consisted of a dozen or more men, who cooked, captained the vessel and shopped in the bazaars for supplies. [http://books.google.com/books?id=1LLAZp3_93MC&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=dahaheah&source=web&ots=o-pDWd5IVK&sig=CxDuo3DxMMJzeNL-q2ZzHqSmYcg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA116,M1] ] and a crew of 13 Egyptians to take them down the Nile River. Architect Hunt, later famous for his Gilded Age Newport palazzos, painted and made sketches along the Nile while his younger brother and Baker took photographs. (The results were later shown at a 1999 exhibition in Washington, D.C.)Following their arduous journey, the pair of no-longer-neophyte photographers returned to Paris and made prints from their 18x24 cm negatives which were made using a waxed-paper process. [As pioneers of photography, it's unclear how Hunt and Baker learned so much so early. The Englishman William Fox Talbot was still perfecting his Calotype (sometimes called Talbotype) process at the time of the duo's journey. Indeed, it was the year 1852, while Hunt and Baker were embarked on their trip, that one of the early pioneers of Talbot's work, the English inventor, geologist and Royal Academy member Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson showed his new book using the Talbot process at a London Society of Arts exhibition.] Having developed the negatives, each man kept a personal album of the prints. The young Hunt showed his to the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, who brought them to the attention of the King of Prussia, and Hunt made a formal gift of 11 prints to Karl Richard Lepsius, the German founder of the study of ancient Egyptology. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=8dUHTfULq2QC&pg=PA724&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+adams&ei=N5jsSLS-GKGutgPLgI3RBg#PPA728,M1 The Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1905, Vol. II, Mary Rogers Cabot, E. L. Hildreth & Co., Brattleboro, 1922] ] Baker left his album with a New York dealer to discern commercial interest in the prints.

Following their extraordinary journey, the two men took divergent paths. Baker returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, to enjoy the life of a wealthy aesthete, while Hunt completed his studies at the Swiss Military Institute, then returned to America where he took a second law degree, this one from Harvard. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=-0sBAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA84&lpg=RA2-PA84&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+weathersfield&source=web&ots=85DJUfr00J&sig=k0VpBRCVDeV3uTG-q0wTXf3SWhQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result Quinquennial Catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School Association (1817-1904), Published by the Law School, Cambridge, 1905] ] He began practicing law in New York City, the home of his brother Richard Morris Hunt, until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted as lieutenant on the staff of General Heitzelman. Eventually he was promoted to lieutenant colonel for bravery at the Battle of Malvern Hill. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=VZun_fnJYVIC&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+new+york+times&source=web&ots=tnQ7IHh5um&sig=MTSucWLUnuQ4WCT-VVeJErrzdl0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result Civil War to the Bloody End: The Life and Times of Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman, Jerry D. Thompson, Texas A & M University Press, 2006] ]

Following the Civil War, Leavitt Hunt returned to New York City and his law practice for several years, until he retired in 1867 to Weathersfield, Vermont, where his wife Katherine Jarvis [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=qqfzkQFXg7QC&pg=PA389&lpg=PA389&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+weathersfield&source=web&ots=Wy77JXCfcM&sig=U9V5EKWBs4q_8GPy6ESiWzGgmaw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result The Life and Times of Hon. William Jarvis, Mary Pepperell Sparhawk Jarvis Cutts, Hurd and Houghton, New York, Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1869] ] had inherited the estate belonging to her father William Jarvis, a prominent Vermont businessman and diplomat best known as the first importer of Merino sheep into America.

Leavitt Hunt purchased his own estate at nearby Weathersfield Bow and became a gentleman farmer. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=8dUHTfULq2QC&pg=PA728&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+weathersfield&ei=hOfrSOEEj_6xA4-f7MwG Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895, Vol. II, Mary Rogers Cabot, E.L. Hildreth & Co., Brattleboro, Vermont, 1922] ] Hunt was particularly interested in the rare breeds of Dutch cattle that he raised, [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=HIUpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA195&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+weathersfield&ei=FwLsSNCEFIH-sQPuq4DvBg Annual Report of the Vermont State Board of Agriculture, Manufactures and Mining for the Year 1872, Peter Collier, Secretary of the Board, Montpelier, 1872] ] as well as the white pine forests he propagated on his estate, which he dubbed "Elmsholme." [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=Sg0MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA181&lpg=PA181&dq=%22social+register%22+leavitt+hunt+jarvis&source=web&ots=iwoxEy2aET&sig=qah_is2EJY0hPgBkbmOPRg7jotk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result Leavitt and Katherine Hunt, 'Elmsholme,' Weathersfield, Vt., New York Social Register, Social Register Association, New York, 1897] ] During his retirement as a farmer, Hunt also became an inventor [ [http://www.google.com/patents?id=LsVFAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP2&lpg=PP2&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+weathersfield&source=web&ots=ZvXSZiU3D5&sig=KURuKFbYXtc3dxg0eOmv9EZgZxM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result United States Patent Office, Patent number 91445, Issued June 1869, Leavitt Hunt of Weathersfield, Vermot, Improvement in Plow] ] , with several patents for new plows. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=IUtebvrS85oC&pg=PA465&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+weathersfield&lr=&ei=CQPsSJW7FpfUtAO0q7GSBw Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1869, United States Patent Office, Vol. II, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1871] ] [ [http://www.google.com/patents?id=RrAAAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP2&lpg=PP2&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+weathersfield&source=web&ots=6GAFgQDEkM&sig=WyLHJ7_MiGEHX-65xj_PH1klkNE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPA1,M1 Improvement in Sulky-Ploughs, Patent number 77617, May 5, 1868, United States Patent Office, Leavitt Hunt, Weathersfield, Vermont] ]

As far as is known, neither Hunt nor his companion Baker ever showed much interest in the photographic medium after their journey. Their prints are rarely seen, very scarce, and are among the most valuable early photographic prints. Hunt's personal album is now in the collection of the Bennington Art Museum, Bennington, Vermont. Baker's album evidently disappeared. The collection of photos presented to Eygptologist Richard Lepsius is housed at the Museum Ludwig's AgfaPhoto-Historama in Cologne, Germany.

Hunt's personal negatives are believed lost, but the prints he made became the property of his brother Richard Morris Hunt. They are now preserved in the Richard Morris Hunt Papers at the American Architectural Foundation in Washington, D.C.. A 1999 show at the American Architectural Foundation's Octagon Museum showcased Leavitt Hunt's 1853 journey. Entitled "A Voyage of Discovery: The Nile Journal of Richard Morris Hunt," the exhibition consisted of seventy of Leavitt Hunt's original photographic prints, as well as drawings and watercolors by Richard Morris Hunt from the museum's Prints and Drawings Collection. [ [http://www.archfoundation.org/octagon/exhibitions/previous.htm A Voyage of Discovery: The Nile Journal of Richard Morris Hunt, 1999, The Octagon Museum, The Museum of the American Architectural Foundation, archfoundation.org] ]

Some of Leavitt Hunt's personal prints were donated by his family after his death to the Library of Congress, where they are part of the permanent photographic collection. [Hunt's daughter Maud Hunt (Mrs. William E. Patterson) donated 26 Hunt prints to the Library of Congress in 1947, including views in Egypt, Greece, Jerusalem, and along the Nile River, including views of temples, tombs and ruins. [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/p?pp/ils:@FILREQ(@FIELD(CALL+@band(LOT%202388))+@FIELD(COLLID+coll))::SortBy=DOCID] ] There are also a few original prints from this early Middle East trip in the Hallmark Photographic Collection and at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Harvard University's Harrison D. Horblit Collection of Early Photography also owns several of the works by Hunt and Baker.

Although Leavitt Hunt never returned to photography, he remained vitally interested in the arts until the end of his life, corresponding with with fellow Harvard-educated lawyer and author Henry Dwight Sedgwick, as well as other intellectuals of the era. [ [http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0248 Correspondence between Henry Dwight Sedgwick and Leavitt Hunt, Sedgwick Family Papers 1717-1946, Massachusetts Historical Society, masshist.org] ] He and his wife travelled frequently, often crossing paths with family friends like Joseph Hodges Choate and Thomas Jefferson Coolidge. [ [http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou01426 Autograph File, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University, lib.harvard.edu] ] He also wrote poetry on the side. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ej4-AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA12&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22&ei=q03sSNm-JZqktAPLsIHwBg Nature and Art: Poems and Pictures from the Best Authors and Artists, Louise Reid Estes, Estes and Lauriat, Boston, 1882] ]

Perhaps the highest tribute paid Leavitt Hunt and his brothers was that of Ralph Waldo Emerson. "The remarkable families," Emerson wrote, were the "the three Jackson brothers....the three Lowell brothers....the four Lawrences....the Cabots....the three Hunts, William, Richard and Leavitt (William Hunt tells also of his brother John, in Paris); the Washburns, three governors, I believe." [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=qjMRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269&dq=%22ralph+waldo+emerson%22+leavitt+hunt&source=web&ots=cv4L4EB4UU&sig=rH8hYcWvdGok7vLPava975QAue0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1864-1876, Ralph Waldo Emerson, edited by Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1914] ]

Clyde du Vernet Hunt, who graduated from Andover and Harvard Law School, and subsequently became a painter and sculptor accepted by the Paris Salon [ [http://pdf.phillipian.net/1897/04241897.pdf The Phillipian, Phillips Andover Academy, Andover, Mass., April 24, 1897] ] , was the son of Leavitt Hunt and his wife, the former Katherine Jarvis. [ [http://www.benningtonmuseum.org/press/2-27c-2008.html Rarely Viewed Hunt Family Work on View at the Bennington Museum, benningtonmuseum.org] ] A portrait of Leavitt Hunt painted by his brother William Morris Hunt in 1874 is in the permanent collection of the Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro's main library. [Newspapers and magazines of the day carried news that Leavitt Hunt was writing a biography of his brother the painter, but this work never appeared. Apparently Leavitt Hunt's intentions were supplanted by the 1899 volume "Life of William Morris Hunt", written by William Morris Hunt's longtime student Helen Mary Knowlton. [http://books.google.com/books?id=jE0FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA265&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22+salem&ei=DZzsSLXEKoScswPputXqBg] ] Artist William Morris Hunt sketched other members of his brother Leavitt's family as well. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=MowYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA49&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22&ei=OUzsSLq2B5_qtgOLkKGyDQ Exhibition of the Works of William Morris Hunt, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Alfred Mudge & Son, Boston, 1880] ] Leavitt Hunt's wife Katherine, daughter of businessman William Jarvis, died June 6, 1916, at Lakewood, New Jersey, and was interred with her husband at Weathersfield. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E01E6DD103FE233A2575BC0A9679C946796D6CF Obituary, Katherine Jarvis Hunt, The New York Times, June 6, 1916, nytimes.com] ]

Footnotes

References

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=PJ8DHBay4_EC&pg=PA729&lpg=PA729&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22&source=web&ots=ZP3VJg3TMa&sig=0vBZZhKJS49eftMq_oZRt4kLFOI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result#PPA729,M1 Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photography, John Hannavy, pp. 729-731, CRC Press, 2008]

External links

* [http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/589_calotype.html Great Pyramid and Sphinx, Gizeh, Egypt] , Calotpye print, ca. 1852, Leavitt Hunt, Prints & Photographs Reading Room, The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov.rr
* [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=0AYWAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22leavitt+hunt%22&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=ePcPWEGEpx&sig=0z88SpT37mwBhyCblLMkecstIM8&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPR1,M1 "Agrippa; or, The Evangelists: Historical Point of View,"] Leavitt Hunt, Miller & Curtis, New York, 1857
* [http://www.davidrumsey.com/amico/amico552469-61871.html Convent of Mt. Sinai] , 1852, Leavitt Hunt, The Amica Library

Further reading

* See also William Fox Talbot, inventor of the Calotype, sometimes called the Talbotype, the medium used by Hunt and Baker
* "Pilgrims on Paper: The Calotype Journey of Leavitt Hunt and Nathan Flint Baker", David R. Hanlon, "History of Photography", December 2007