Lot 46

Henry Holiday
(British, 1839-1927)
Adam. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"

19th Century European, Victorian and British Impressionist Art

27 September 2017, 14:00 BST

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £14,375 inc. premium

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Henry Holiday (British, 1839-1927)

Adam. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"
signed and dated 'HENRY HOLIDAY/1870' (lower right)
watercolour
82 x 44cm (32 5/16 x 17 5/16in).

Footnotes

Provenance
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, Belgravia, 19 October 1971, lot 35.
Private collection, UK (acquired from the above).
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1879, no. 857.

Henry Holiday was born in London in 1839 and showed an early interest in art. He was tutored by William Cave Thomas and was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools at just 15 years old.

As well as being an accomplished painter – in particular of historical genre – Holiday was an illustrator, glassmaker, enamellist and sculptor. He is well known for his large oil painting titled Dante and Beatrice, which is now in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. In 1861, under the guidance of Edward Burne-Jones, he began to design stained glass for Powell and Sons, completing more than 300 commissions.

The present lot, executed in 1870, relates to the text from Genesis 3:19: 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return' (King James Bible).

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