Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. William Morris Hunt (March 31, 1824 September 8, 1879), American painter, was born at Brattleboro, Vermont to Jane Maria (Leavitt) Hunt and Hon. Jonathan Hunt, who raised one of the preeminent families in American art. William Morris Hunt was the leading painter of mid-19th century Boston, Massachusetts. Hunt''s father''s family were among Vermont''s founders and largest landowners; his mother''s a family of wealth and prominence in Connecticut. Hunt attended Harvard but withdrew in his junior year. Having been denied the opportunity to paint and draw by an overbearing father, Jane Leavitt Hunt resolved that her children would be given the chance to study the arts in the best academies -- even if it meant moving to Europe to attend them.