Hunt, John Durell (1900–76), art expert, dealer, collector, medievalist, and archaeologist, was born 28 May 1900 at 28 St John's Road, Watford, Hertfordshire, England, eldest of at least five children (two sons and three daughters) of John Hunt (c.1870–1929), architect, and Effie Jane Hunt (née Sherry). His father was the eldest of six sons and one daughter of Frederick William Hugh Hunt (c.1841–1921), architect, and Mary L. Hunt. His mother was born 22 April 1868 at York House, Lordship Lane, Tottenham, Middlesex, one of at least six children of Henry Sacheverel Sherry (born c.1841 in Wales), solicitor, and Arabella Gertrude Rosalie Sherry (née Harwood). John Hunt, senior, who was articled to his architect father in 1887, and Effie Jane Sherry were married 11 July 1899 at St Andrew's Church of England, Watford. John Durell Hunt, who had become an established antique dealer in London, married (2 June 1933) at the registry office, St Martin's, Westminister, London, Gertrud Franziska Charlotte Paula Kreitz (née Hartmann), formerly the wife of Robert Alfred Kreitz, from whom she obtained a divorce.
Archaeological research and its attendant fieldwork played a central role in Hunt's life, and it may have been this interest that brought him and his wife to Ireland. In 1940 they settled at Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, and Hunt joined up with the archaeologist Professor Seán P. Ó Riordáin (qv) (1905–57), who had been for some years excavating the neolithic and bronze-age house-sites at Knockadoon, Lough Gur. In 1942 Hunt excavated the medieval house-site of Caherguillamore, near Bruff, Co. Limerick.
In 1946 Hunt was awarded an MA degree from NUI for his work on medieval armour in Ireland. He was instrumental in reevaluating the medieval treasures of Thomond, in particular the Arthur cross and the O'Dea mitre and crosier, which he undertook to have repaired by the conservation department of the British Museum; they are exhibited at the Hunt Museum, on loan from the diocese of Limerick.
Lord Gort bought Bunratty castle in 1954 and Hunt was involved in having it excavated and restored, and in the creation of Bunratty Folk Park, which was carried out under the direction of the board of works, with subventions from Bord Fáilte and Lord Gort himself. Hunt bought Craggaunowen Castle, restored it, and had a replica of a crannog, ringfort, and souterrain built on the grounds. He and his wife presented the castle and grounds to the nation, together with their private collection of Irish and European antiquities and art objects. The Hunt collection is housed in the Hunt Museum (the refurbished Old Custom House), Limerick city. Hunt also bequeathed works of art to the NGI for the nation.
He acquired an expertise in medieval art, particularly religious art, and collectors sought his advice. His acclaimed Irish medieval figure sculpture 1200–1600 – a study of Irish tombs with notes on costume and armour – was published in two volumes in 1974. He published in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal (1944–75); the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1942–55); the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society Journal (1950); the Co. Louth Archaeological Society Journal (1953); and the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (February 1956). Hunt was advisor to Sotheby's, and was a member of An Chomhairle Ealaíon/The Arts Council of Ireland and of the National Monuments Advisory Council.
John Hunt died 19 January 1976 at St Joseph's Nursing Home, Raheny, Dublin, and is buried in St Fintan's cemetery, Sutton. Gertrud ‘Putzl’ Hunt died 22 March 1995 in Dublin, aged 92. The couple had a son, John (1957–2004), and a daughter, Gertrude (‘Trudy’).