Frank Holl

Frank Holl
Self-portrait, 1863
Born	Francis Montague Holl (1845-07-04)4 July 1845 London
Died	31 July 1888(1888-07-31) (aged 43)
Nationality	English
Education	University College School
Occupation	Painter
Parent(s)	Francis Holl (father)

Francis Montague Holl RA (4 July 1845 in London – 31 July 1888 in London) was an English painter and royal portraitist.

Holl was born in London to family of noted engravers, being the son of Francis Holl ARA, as well as a nephew of William Holl the Younger and a grandson of William Holl the Elder, whose profession he originally intended to follow. He was educated mainly at University College School. Entering the Royal Academy Schools as a probationer in painting in 1860, he rapidly progressed, winning silver and gold medals, and making his debut 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.

In 1869 he was recruited as an artist by the engraver and social reformer William Luson Thomas, to work on Thomas's newly founded newspaper, The Graphic. In 1886 he produced a portrait of Millais as his diploma work, but his health rapidly declined and he died at Hampstead, north London, on 31 July 1888. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Overwork undermined Holl's health, but his reputation was assured by the studentship picture. 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); and Going Home (1877). Van Gogh admired Holl's works and wrote enthusiastically to his brother Theo about them.