Frank Holl (July 4, 1845 – July 31, 1888),
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
, was born in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, and was educated chiefly at
University College SchoolUniversity College School, generally known as UCS, is an Independent school charity situated in Hampstead, north west London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views...
.
He was a grandson of William Holl, an engraver of note, and the son of Francis Holl,
ARAAn Associate of the Royal Academy is a practising artist who has been elected as a member of the Royal Academy, an art institution based in London, England. Holders are entitled to use the designation A.R.A. after their names....
, another engraver, whose profession he originally intended to follow. Entering the
Royal AcademyThe Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London, England. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment...
schools as a probationer in painting in 1860, he rapidly progressed, winning silver and gold medals, and making his debut as an exhibitor in 1864 with
A Portrait, and
Turned out of Church, a subject picture.
Frank Holl (July 4, 1845 – July 31, 1888),
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
, was born in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, and was educated chiefly at
University College SchoolUniversity College School, generally known as UCS, is an Independent school charity situated in Hampstead, north west London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views...
.
He was a grandson of William Holl, an engraver of note, and the son of Francis Holl,
ARAAn Associate of the Royal Academy is a practising artist who has been elected as a member of the Royal Academy, an art institution based in London, England. Holders are entitled to use the designation A.R.A. after their names....
, another engraver, whose profession he originally intended to follow. Entering the
Royal AcademyThe Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London, England. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment...
schools as a probationer in painting in 1860, he rapidly progressed, winning silver and gold medals, and making his debut as an exhibitor in 1864 with
A Portrait, and
Turned out of Church, a subject picture.
A Fern Gatherer (1865);
The Ordeal (1866);
Convalescent (the somewhat grim pathos of which attracted much attention), and
Faces in the Fire (1867), succeeded. Holl gained the travelling
studentshipA studentship is similar to a scholarship but involves summer work on a research project. The amount paid to the recipient is normally tax-free, but the recipient is required to fulfill work requirements. Types of studentships vary among universities and countries. In the UK, studentships are...
in 1868; the successful work was characteristic of the young painter's mood, being
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.
In 1869 he was recruited as an artist by the engraver and social reformer
William Luson ThomasWilliam Luson Thomas was an English wood engraver and the founder of various British newspapers.He worked as an engraver in Paris and also as an assistant to the well-known engraver William James Linton....
, to work on Thomas's newly founded newspaper,
The GraphicThe Graphic was a British illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by Illustrated Newspapers, Ltd. It continued to be published weekly under this title until 23 April 1932 and then changed title to The National Graphic between 28 April and 14 July 1932; it then ceased publication...
.
His insatiable zeal for work of all kinds began early to undermine the artist's health, but his position was assured by the studentship picture, which created a sort of furore, although, as with most of his works, the blackness of its colouration, probably due to his training as an engraver, was even more decidedly against it than the sadness of its theme. Otherwise, this painting exhibited nearly all the best technical qualities to which he ever attained, except high finish and clearness, and a very sincere vein of
pathosPathos is one of the three modes of persuasion in rhetoric . Pathos appeals to the audience's emotions. It is a part of Aristotle's philosophies in rhetoric...
.
Holl was much below
MillaisSir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
in portraiture, and far inferior in all the higher ways of design; in technical resources, relatively speaking, he was but scantily provided. The range of his studies and the manner of his painting were narrower than those of
Jozef IsraëlsJozef Israëls was a Dutch painter, and "the most respected Dutch artist of the second half of the nineteenth century".-Youth:...
, with whom, except as a portrait-painter, he may better be compared than with Millais. In 1870 he painted
Better is a Dinner of Herbs where Love is, than a Stalled Ox and Hatred therewith;
No Tidings from the Sea, a scene in a fisherman's cottage, in 1871-- a story told with breath-catching pathos and power;
I am the Resurrection and the Life (1872);
Leaving Home (1873),
Deserted (1874), both of which had great success;
Her First-born, girls carrying a baby to the grave (1876); and
Going Home (1877).
Van GoghVincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colors and emotional impact. He suffered from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life, and died largely unknown, at the age...
was a great lover of Holl's works and wrote enthusiastically to his brother Theo about them.
In 1877 he painted the two pictures
Hush and
Hushed. Newgate, Committed for Trial, a very sad and telling piece, first attested the breaking down of the painter's health in 1878. In this year he was elected ARA, and exhibited
The Gifts of the Fairies, The Daughter of the House, Absconded, and a very fine portrait of
Samuel CousinsSamuel Cousins was an English mezzotint engraver, born at Exeter.He was preeminently the interpreter of Sir Thomas Lawrence, his contemporary. During his apprenticeship to S. W. Reynolds he engraved many of the best amongst the three hundred and sixty little mezzotints illustrating the works of...
, the
mezzotintMezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line or dot based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple...
engraver. This last canvas is a masterpiece, and deserved the success which attended the print engraved from it.
Holl was overwhelmed with commissions, which he would not decline. The consequences of this strain upon a constitution which was never strong were more or less, though unequally, manifest in
Ordered to the Front, a soldier's departure (1880);
Home Again, its sequel, in 1883 (after which he was made
Royal AcademicianThe Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London, England. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment...
). In 1886 he produced a portrait of Millais as his diploma work, but his health rapidly declined and he died at
HampsteadHampstead is an area of London, England, located north-west of Charing Cross. It is located within Inner London. It is part of the London Borough of Camden. It is known for its intellectual, artistic, musical and literary associations and for the large and hilly parkland Hampstead Heath...
, on the 31st of July 1888.
Holl's better portraits, being of men of rare importance, attest the commanding position he occupied in the branch of art he so unflinchingly followed. They include likenesses of
Lord RobertsLord Roberts may refer to:*Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, Anglo-Irish soldier of the British Army in the Victorian Era.*Roger Roberts, Baron Roberts of Llandudno, Welsh Liberal Democrat peer*Wyn Roberts, Baron Roberts of Conwy, Welsh Conservative peer...
, painted for
Queen VictoriaVictoria was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India of the British Raj from 1 May 1876, until her death...
(1882); the
Prince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...
, Lord Dufferin, the
Duke of ClevelandDuke of Cleveland is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The dukedoms were named after Cleveland in northern England....
(1885); Lord Overstone,
Mr BrightJohn Bright PC , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League...
,
Mr GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone was a British Liberal Party statesman and four times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...
,
Mr ChamberlainJoseph Chamberlain was an influential British businessman, politician, and statesman.In his early years Chamberlain was a radically minded Liberal Party member, a campaigner for educational reform, and President of the Board of Trade. He later became a Liberal Unionist in alliance with the...
,
Sir J TennielSir John Tenniel was an English illustrator.He drew many topical cartoons and caricatures for Punch in the late 19th century, including the iconic dropping the pilot, but is best remembered today for his illustrations in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the...
,
Earl SpencerEarl Spencer is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created on 1 November 1765, along with the title Viscount Althorp, of Althorp in the County of Northamptonshire, for John Spencer, 1st Viscount Spencer, a great-grandson of the 1st Duke of Marlborough...
, Viscount Cranbrook, and a score of other important subjects.