James Holland

KT635 Signed with monogram, inscribe and dated in pencil l.l.: TRAETH MAWR/Sept 27th 55, watercolour over pencil heightened with white on buff paper 33.7 x 51.8 cm.; 13 3/8 x 20 3/8 inches Frame size 50 x 67 cm.; 19 5/8 x 26 3/8 inches Provenance Agnew’s, (DB5417) Private collection, Herefordshire, until 2024 James Holland OWS was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, where his father and other members of his family (including his brother Thomas, also an artist) were employed at the pottery works of William Davenport in Longport. James was employed there from the age of twelve, for seven years, painting flowers on pottery and porcelain. In 1819, Holland came to London where he continued to work as a pottery painter, but also gave lessons in drawing landscapes, architecture, and marine subjects. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824, became an associate exhibitor of The Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1835 and joined the Society of British Artists in 1843. In 1858 he was elected a full member of the Old Water Colour Society. Holland travelled extensively on the Continent between the 1830s and the 1850s, and he became known for his topographical works which were reproduced in the illustrated travel annuals of the day. He visited Venice, Milan, Geneva, and Paris, Portugal, Normandy and made tours of North Wales in 1850 and 1855. He exhibited prolifically during his lifetime and showed thirty-two pictures at the Royal Academy, ninety-one at the British Institution, and 108 at the Society of British Artists.

Signed with monogram and dated 24th. Octr. 57. l.r., watercolour over pencil 18.5 x 24.3 cm This free sketch is a delightful example of Holland’s virtuosity. He first visited Venice in 1835 and was to return throughout the rest of his life, inspired by the beauty of the city, like so many other artists. He valued his own sketches greatly and once commented that parting with a sketch was like parting with a tooth; once sold it cannot be replaced (L. R. Valpy, Memoir of Samuel Palmer, 1881, p. 76). The facade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco, one of the six great philanthropic confraternities of the Venetian Republic, is by Pietro Lombardo (1435–1515) and Giovanni Buora (1487–90?) and was finished by Mauro Codussi in 1495. The lion of San Marco can be seen in the middle of Holland’s composition. The building is situated next to Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the interior is now occupied by the civic hospital of Venice which stretches to the lagoon. Provenance: Sir Henry Houldsworth, Bt; Leger Galleries Ltd, February 1962; Private collection, UK