Henry Holiday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dante and Beatrice (1883)

Henry Holiday (17 June 1839 – 15 April 1927)^[1] was an English historical genre and landscape painter, stained glass designer, illustrator and sculptor. He is considered to be a member of the Pre-Raphaelite school of art.

Life

Early years and training

The Last Supper (Panel in St Chad's Church, Kirkby)

Holiday was born in London. He showed an early aptitude for art and was given lessons by William Cave Thomas. He attended Leigh's art academy (where a fellow student was Frederick Walker) and in 1855, at the age of 15, was admitted to the Royal Academy. Through his friendship with Albert Moore and Simeon Solomon he was introduced to the artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris of the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood". This movement was to be pivotal in his future artistic and political life.

In that same year, 1855, Holiday made a journey to the Lake District. This was to be the first of many trips to the area, where he would often holiday for long periods of time. Whilst in the Lake District, he spent much of his time sketching the views which were to be seen from the various hills and mountains. He wrote, "For concentrated loveliness, I know nothing that can quite compare with the lakes and mountains of Westmorland, Cumberland and Lancashire."

Paintings

Study of drapery

Holiday worked in both oils and watercolours. In 1858, his first picture, a landscape painting, was exhibited at the Royal Academy and immediately sold - from that year his work was frequently shown at the Academy and elsewhere. Other pictures include:

The Burgess of Calais (1859).

The Rhine Maidens (1879). The subject matter was taken from Wagner's opera Das Rheingold. In order to properly visualise the picture, Holiday modelled the 3 Rhine maidens in clay and placed them in a tank of blue-green tinted water together with clay "rocks".
Dante and Beatrice, exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1883. In 1881, Holiday had travelled to Florence in order to make studies for this picture, and carried out meticulous research to ensure that the correct buildings and architectural features were present. He also created rough clay models of some of the buildings to set the scene. The pigeons in the picture were painted by John Trivett Nettleship.^[2]

"Charity", a stained glass window design (1887, Royal Academy), "Terpsichore", "Cleopatra", "Sleep", "The Lute player", "The Temple of Philae", "Hawes Water" (1918, watercolour) and many others.

Holiday spent a lot of time at the studios of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, where groups of artists would meet to discuss, exchange and pool ideas. The influence of Burne-Jones can be seen in Holiday's work.

Stained Glass

Modello or cartoon for three-panel stained glass window in the Royal Ontario Museum

In 1861, Holiday accepted the job of stained glass window designer for Powell's Glass Works - after Burne-Jones had left to work for Morris & Co. During his time there he fulfilled over 300 commissions, mostly for customers in the USA. He left in 1891 to set up his own glass works in Hampstead, producing stained glass, mosaics, enamels and sacerdotal objects.

Holiday's stained glass work can be found all over Britain but some of his best is at Westminster Abbey (the Isambard Kingdom Brunel memorial window, 1868), St. Luke’s church in Kentish Town and St. Mary Magdalene in Paddington (1869).

Other work and personal life

Hunting of the Snark, plate 1.

Holiday also did some sculpture, in 1861 producing a piece called "Sleep" which attracted favourable critical interest.

Holiday worked for architect William Burges for a period, including providing wall and ceiling paintings for Worcester College, Oxford (1863–64)^[3] and furniture paintings - including "Sleeping beauty" for the headboard in the bedroom of Burges's home The Tower House itself.^[4] The "Sleeping Beauty" bed is now in the collection of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery & Bedford Museum.

In October 1864, Holiday married Catherine Raven and they moved to Bayswater, London. His wife was a talented embroiderer who worked for Morris & Co. They had one daughter, Winifred.^[5]

In 1867, Holiday visited Italy for the first time and was inspired by the originality of the Renaissance artists he saw on display there.^[6] In 1871 he went to Ceylon as part of the " Eclipse Expedition". His astronomical drawings were subsequently published in the national press and attracted great interest.

On his return to England in 1872, he commissioned architect Basil Champneys to design a new family home in Branch Hill, Hampstead, which was named "Oak Tree House" - in 1888, William Gladstone himself was a visitor.

In January 1874, Holiday was commissioned by Lewis Carroll to illustrate The Hunting of the Snark. He remained friends with the author throughout his life.^[5]

In 1907, Holiday went to Egypt, painting a series of watercolours and illustrations on ancient Egyptian themes. These were exhibited at "Walker's Gallery", London, in March 1908.^[7] In 1907-08, he commissioned the building of a holiday home, "Betty Fold" in his favourite part of the Lake District.

Holiday had been a socialist throughout his life and, together with his wife Kate and daughter Winifred, supported the Suffragette movement. The family were close acquaintances of Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter, and had organised local suffragette meetings in the Lake District.

Holiday died on 15 April 1927 in London, two years after his wife, Kate. His nephew, Gilbert Holiday (1879–1937), son of Sir Frederick Holiday, was also an artist of note.^[8]

Notes

↑
- Henry Holiday: An artist's album (Courtauld institute).
↑ Various. Famous Paintings, Volume 1 (Cassell, 1891), no. 1.
↑ Geoffrey Tyack. "Oxford: an architectural guide" p226.
↑ William Burges
↑ 5.0 5.1 Short biography (Lewis Carroll Society).
↑ Simeon Solomon in Italy for more details.
↑ Walker's Gallery exhibition, 1908
↑ Gilbert Holiday

Bibliography

Holiday, Henry. Stained glass as an art (1896).
Holiday, Henry. Art and Individualism (1903)
Holiday, Henry. Reminiscences of My Life (Heinemann London, 1914).
Carroll, Lewis. The Hunting of the Snark an Agony, in Eight Fits (London: MacMillan & Co., 1876).
Various. Famous Paintings, Volume 1 (Cassell, 1891), no. 1.
Mackay, Angus M. Henry Holiday and his art. Article from The Westminster Review, Volume 158 (1902) pp. 391 ff.
The decorative work of Mr. Henry Holiday (Studio International, Volume 46, 1909) pp. 106–115.
Baldry, A. L. Henry Holiday (Walker's quarterly, nos. 31-32, pub. by London: Walker's Galleries, 1930).
Henry Holiday 1839-1927, exhibition catalogue (London: William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, 1989).
Wilcox, Scott & Newall, Christopher. Victorian landscape watercolors (Hudson Hills, 1992) p. 190.
Cohen, Morton N. & Wakeling, Edward. Lewis Carroll and his illustrators (Macmillan, London, 2003) pp. 22–27.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry Holiday.

Holiday online (ArtCyclopedia)
Paintings by Holiday (Art renewal Center museum)
The stained glass of Henry Holiday (University of St. Andrews)
A gallery of a few of Holiday's stained glass works
Holiday's Stained Glass Windows in Cumbria
Paintings featuring children ("Children in art history")
Study of a draped classical figure (Christie's)

v t e The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

James Collinson William Holman Hunt John Everett Millais Dante Gabriel Rossetti Frederic George Stephens Thomas Woolner William Michael Rossetti

Associated artists and figures	John Brett Ford Madox Brown Richard Burchett Edward Burne-Jones Georgiana Burne-Jones Charles Allston Collins Frank Cadogan Cowper Henry Holiday Walter Howell Deverell Arthur Hughes Frederic Leighton Robert Braithwaite Martineau Jane Morris William Morris Louisa Beresford, Marchioness of Waterford Christina Rossetti John Ruskin Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys Thomas Seddon Elizabeth Siddal Simeon Solomon John Roddam Spencer Stanhope Marie Spartali Stillman Algernon Charles Swinburne Henry Wallis John William Waterhouse William Lindsay Windus

Well-known works (period and post-period)	Ophelia Proserpine Christ in the House of His Parents Paolo and Francesca da Rimini A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids The Awakening Conscience The Hireling Shepherd Bocca Baciata A Vision of Fiammetta Pygmalion and the Image series The Beloved Flaming June

Models	Elizabeth Siddal Fanny Cornforth Alexa Wilding Annie Miller Effie Gray Jane Morris Marie Spartali Stillman Maria Zambaco

British and Irish stained glass

British and Irish stained glass (1811–1918)

History

Architecture of cathedrals and great churches
History of stained glass
Medieval stained glass
Poor Man's Bible
Regional characteristics of European cathedral architecture

Influences

Artistic movements	Aesthetic Movement Art Nouveau Arts and Crafts Movement Biblia pauperum Cambridge Camden Society Classicism Early Renaissance Exoticism Gothic Revival Oxford Movement Romanticism

Organizations	The Glass House Hogarth Club Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

People

Architectural	John Loughborough Pearson Augustus Pugin George Gilbert Scott Alexander Thomson

Artists	Edward Liddall Armitage Hugh Arnold Margaret Chilton Charles Edmund Clutterbuck Trena Cox Louis Davis works Rachel de Montmorency Alfred Drury Mabel Esplin Moira Forsyth Jane Gray Reginald Hallward works Herbert Hendrie James Humphries Hogan Joan Howson works Marjorie Kemp Charles Eamer Kempe Mary Lowndes William Morris Karl Parsons works Henry Payne works Lilian Josephine Pocock Arnold Wathen Robinson works Arild Rosenkrantz Francis Skeat works Caroline Townshend works Christopher Webb Christopher Whall works Veronica Whall works Thomas Willement William Wilson Paul Woodroffe works Edward Woore works British stained-glass artists Irish stained-glass artists

Critics	John Ruskin

Manufacturers	An Túr Gloine Burlison and Grylls Harry Clarke Clayton and Bell Daniel Cottier John Hardman & Co. Heaton, Butler and Bayne Lavers, Barraud and Westlake Morris & Co. James Powell and Sons Shrigley and Hunt William Wailes William Warrington

Examples

Images

Terminology

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 100389201 LCCN: n80112949 ISNI: 0000 0001 1000 8135 GND: 128914505

Persondata
Name	Holiday, Henry
Alternative names
Short description	British artist
Date of birth	17 June 1839
Place of birth
Date of death	15 April 1927
Place of death

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.