JAMES HOLLAND PAINTINGS FOR SALE & BIOGRAPHY
JAMES HOLLAND
British, 1799 -1870
BIOGRAPHY
James Holland was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, one of the most prominent of the pottery manufacturing towns in the Midlands. He worked at the Davenport pottery works from a young age, painting birds and flowers, a skill he had learned from his mother. Holland moved to London in 1819 where he at first continued to concentrate on flower painting but gradually transitioned into landscapes.
The artist traveled to France in 1831 on what was to be the first of many tours he would make throughout Europe during his lifetime. As Christopher Wood observed, “Holland’s early watercolours, much influenced by Bonington, are among the finest in the tradition of Victorian continental view painting, comparable to, sometimes even better than, Callow, Prout, Harding or Roberts. After about 1840 … like so many Victorian artists, he found it more profitable to turn out romantic, colourful views of Venice” (Christopher Wood, Victorian Painters, Woodbridge, 1995, vol. 1, p. 254). However, his subjects were diverse and included views of Portugal, Italy, and Switzerland; and in England, included views of Greenwich, where he lived for a time, and elsewhere.
Holland exhibited both watercolours and oil paintings - at the Royal Academy from 1824 until 1865; at the Old Watercolour Society; at the British Institution, the Society of British Artists, and the New Watercolour Society. He became an associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1835 and a full member in 1857. The artist’s studio sale was held at Christie’s on May 26, 1870.
Museum Collections
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport
Birmingham Museums Trust, Birmingham
Brighton & Hove Museums, Brighton
British Museum, London
Brodie Castley, National Trust for Scotland, Forres
City of Westminster Archives Centre, London
Courtauld Institute, London
Eton College, Windsor
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Gallery Oldham, Oldham
Glasgow Museums, Glasgow
Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston
Huntington Library, Art Museum, San Marino, CA
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool
Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, Leamington Spa
Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds
Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Morgan Library & Museum, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of London, London
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
National Maritime Museum, London
National Museum, Cardiff
Nottingham City Museums & Galleries, Nottingham
Nunnington Hall, National Trust, York
Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Royal Holloway, University of London
Sheffield Museums, Sheffield
Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
Sissinghurst Castle, National Trust, Cranbrook
Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum, Stirling
Sudley House, Liverpool
Tate Britain, London
The Higgins, Bedford
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
Ulster Museum, Ulster
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT
