...The lessons wrought from his training with Couture and Millet added to his ready wit and compelling presence gave Hunt more than enough equipment to articulate the aesthetic concerns of these men as well as those of several other French artists.... Hunt preached a gospel of directness, simplicity, harmony of effect, and a willingness to accept the relative beauty of even the most common subjects. Although one of New England's finest portraitists for over 20 years, Hunt made no secret of his difficulties in painting convincing landscapes, finding natural light and the constant changes it effects a particularly vexing problem. As a result, even his most charming landscapes (which are usually more indebted to Corot or Daubigny than to Millet) give the appearance of a shorthand method grafted on to a studio design—usually one derived from from the many charcoal sketches, which Hunt was especially fond of executing. [https://americanart.si.edu/artist/william-morris-hunt-2359]