Venus Rising from the Sea

A member of the 'Fifteen', a group formed under Lewis F. Day and which later partially amalgamated with the Art Worker's Guild, Henry Holiday is known primarily for his work in stained glass but his creative interests also included mosaics and enamels as well as drawing. He studied at Leigh's Academy and at the Royal Academy Schools and his figurative work is heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, as evidenced here. His most famous illustrations were produced for Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark. In 1890 he founded his own glassworks at Hampstead, producing stained glass windows and the influence of that work can be clearly seen here. The dark artist's frame sits in strong contrast with the translucent enamels, created in sections, echoing the leading of a window, light is reflected from the bright copper below giving the impression that the work glows as if lit from behind.

Holiday records in Reminiscences of My Life, that it was in 1899 that he began to experiment with enamels, ably assisted by his niece Winifred Holiday and his 'very clever pupil' Miss Lilian Wayne (London, 1912, p. 437). Holiday also records that Venus Rising from the Sea, was one of his initial concepts in enamel and was produced for Miss Wayne's father and it is possible that this is that very work, although we know that another version was produced by Holiday and retained for his own collection (V. Arwas, Art Nouveau, London, 2000, p. 170, Holiday's own variant/version in artist's mosaic frame illustrated). Holiday's enamels are also discussed at length in H. Murray, 'Enamelling in Relief: Mr. Henry Holiday's Interesting Invention', The Studio, May 1905, vol. 34, pp. 304-309, Holiday's own version of this subject is mentioned p. 306.