FDA-D.293-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.293-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Genoa
Pilkington
Pilkington
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
collection
collection
Comments
Holland was born in the Potteries, and worked first as a china painter with his father, then for the firm of Davenport. He came to London in 1819, and soon progressed from flower painting to landscapes and topographical subjects. He made his first trip to Europe in 1831, with John Scarlett Davis, and reached Italy in 1835, though only as far as Venice. As a follow-up to the success of Roberts' Landscape Annuals of Spain, Holland was commissioned in 1837 to make views of Portugal which along with Venice, became a staple of his later career.
Holland visited Genoa in 1851. The watercolours of the city he exhibited over the next two decades were a mixture of architectural studies of the city's famous palaces, and views of the harbour and lighthouse from the sea. Until he visited Genoa, Holland had not painted the Mediterranean, and he here seems to seek the most dazzling, intense blue his paintbox is capable of. The depth of colour in the sea leaves the rest of the city little more than a light soaked mirage with the Ducal Palace and baroque church of Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano silhouetted against the sky.
Holland visited Genoa in 1851. The watercolours of the city he exhibited over the next two decades were a mixture of architectural studies of the city's famous palaces, and views of the harbour and lighthouse from the sea. Until he visited Genoa, Holland had not painted the Mediterranean, and he here seems to seek the most dazzling, intense blue his paintbox is capable of. The depth of colour in the sea leaves the rest of the city little more than a light soaked mirage with the Ducal Palace and baroque church of Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano silhouetted against the sky.
Other number
Pi 98
Description
Content (place)
Italy
Dimensions
height (actual size): 260mm
width (actual size): 536mm
width (actual size): 536mm
Materials & techniques note
Pencil and watercolour heightened with white
Production
Person
Holland, James, 1799 - 1870 (Artist)
Date
c.1851
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of Alan Pilkington; by whom presented/bequeathed to Eton College
Previous ownership
References
• Wilcox, T., A Genius for Watercolour; Watercolours from the Eton College Collection, Christie's exhibition catalogue, London, 2003 (p. 64, no. 57)
