Frederick George Stephens

“ 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 coloration, probably due to his training as an engraver, was even more decidedly against it than the sadness of its theme. ”

“ Entering the Royal Academy schools as a probationer in painting in 1860, he rapidly progressed, winning silver and gold medals, and making his début 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 studentship in 1868; the successful work was characteristic of the young painter’s mood, being “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.” ”

“ The range of his studies and the manner of his painting were narrower than those of Josef Israels, 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) ”