George Aitchison

“ He held the first place among contemporary portrait-painters, and probably no portrait-painter of any age has executed so much first-rate work in so short a time. His pictures gained medals at Philadelphia and Melbourne, and he was asked to paint his own portrait for the Uffizi gallery at Florence, but did not live to undertake it.
Holl's subject-pictures illustrate his strong religious feeling and his deep sympathy with the miseries and sorrows of the poor. In private life he was always ready to do all he could to relieve distress. ”

“ And though the Victoria tower has been found fault with by some as dwarfing the structure, in itself it is a beautiful design.
No modern building in England has been so often painted by the artists of all countries. We must not overlook the effects of this building on the subsidiary arts. Barry formed schools of modelling, stone and wood carving, cabinet-making, metal-working, glass and decorative painting, and of encaustic tile making, which have completely revolutionised the arts. ”

“ Architects alone can appreciate the powers required and the labour incident on such a vast and elaborate work, and he had to contend with conflicting opinions, some professional jealousy, visionary schemes, official interference, uneducated criticism in and out of parliament, and the rancour of enemies whose malignity has even pursued his fame beyond the grave. After the main work was done at the Houses of Parliament he moved to the Elms, Clapham Common, where he died of heart disease on 12 May 1860, and was buried in Westminster Abbey on the 22nd. ”

“ Holl married, in 1867, Annie Laura, daughter of Charles Davidson, the well-known water-colour painter, whom he met during his stay in Wales in 1866. His widow and four daughters, Ada, Olive, Madeline, and Phillis, survived him. The portrait of himself which he painted in 1884 for Mr. J. Macdonald of Aberdeen, is too frowning. An excellent sketch of him at work by M. Renouard was given in the ‘Universal Review,’ 15 Aug. 1888.
Holl exhibited ninety-one pictures in all at the Royal Academy. ”

“ He was gifted with that intuitive knowledge of men who could be of use which characterised the first Napoleon and which is possessed by all great men who successfully carry out great works. He got John Thomas appointed head of the stone-carving, and Augustus Welby Pugin head of the woodcarving. ”

“ A. Barry, and, fortunately, so many of Sir Charles's friends, pupils, and assistants were alive who had seen Sir Charles sketch out and elaborate the design, that the contention fell to the ground. The canopy of the throne in the House of Peers is the best piece of internal design, and it is only necessary to look at it to be confident that it was designed by a man reared in a classic school, even if we had not had G. Somers Clarke's statement that he saw Sir Charles draw it with his own hand. ”

“ In speaking of Barry's works it is necessary to deviate somewhat from their chronological order, partly to group them according to style, and partly to note the changes effected in his mind. Even when he was fresh from Egypt and Italy, with marked views as to the proper style and treatment of buildings from the art side, he was, like Wren, too practical a man to shut himself out from work by a rigid adherence to his own views. ”

“ In 1871 Holl exhibited ‘No Tidings from the Sea,’ a commission from the queen. On 10 Feb. 1872 he produced, as a double-page illustration for the ‘Graphic,’ ‘At a Railway Station—A Study.’ He subsequently painted this subject both in oil and water-colour, and called it ‘Leaving Home.’ The oil-painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873, and is now the property of Mrs. Hill. In 1873 he painted ‘Want—the Pawnbroker's Shop,’ a young woman with an infant in her arms pawning her wedding-ring ”

“ Holl's portrait was twice taken by his son Frank Holl. The first, a chalk drawing, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1868, and the second, an oil painting, in 1884, and again in the winter exhibition, 1889. It is the property of his widow. ”

“ He was engaged for twenty-five years in engraving pictures belonging to the queen, and he illustrated the ‘Life of the Prince Consort’ by Sir Theodore Martin. He was celebrated for his beautiful engravings of chalk drawings, and engraved many of Mr. George Richmond's portraits. His principal works were: ‘The Stocking Loom,’ by A. Elmore, R.A., ‘The Coming of Age in the Olden Time,’ and ‘The Railway Station,’ by Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A. He exhibited seventeen engravings in the Royal Academy between 1856 and 1879, and was elected an associate of the Academy in January 1883. ”

“ His portraits of the Prince of Wales (two) , the Duke of Cambridge, his father, Cousins, Captain Sim, Sir James Bacon, the Duke of Cleveland, Signor Piatti, Sir Horace Jones, Sir W. Jenner, Sir Henry Rawlinson, Sir George Stephen, and Lord Spencer, are all admirable ”