A View in Venice

Holland came from a Staffordshire family of pottery designers and painters. He moved to London in 1819 where work continued as a flower and pottery painter as well as establishing himself as a drawing master teaching himself to paint landscapes and architectural scenes through studying the work of his contemporaries. In 1831, he made his first overseas visit, to Paris, where he came under the influence of Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828). Despite the fact that Bonington had died nearly three years before Holland's arrival, his influence remained a powerful one.

Holland's trip to France proved the catalyst for the artist to make regular European tours. He visited Venice on at least four occaisions between 1835 and 1857 and the drawings and watercolours that he executed on these trips provided the inspiration for numerous finsihed watercolours, which he worked up in his studio. He regularly exhibited Venetian subjects at the Old Watercolour Society bewteen 1836 and 1869.