Item:  Beautiful painting by Leicester Bodine Holland (Am., 1882-1952) depicting a stained glass window section in Saint-Chapelle, the royal chapel within the Palais de la Cite in France.  This was the residence of the French kings until the 14th century and it has one of the most extensive 13th century stained glass collections anywhere in the world.  Leicester B. Holland was an expert on Gothic architecture, an important feature of which was the extensive use of stained glass to bring light and color to the interior (whereas statuary was key for the exterior).  Please see my other eBay listings for more art and items from Holland’s family estate!  

Background:  Leicester Holland was the Carnegie Chair and Chief of the Division of Fine Arts at the Library of Congress (LOC), where the Leicester B. Holland Prize (started in 2011) is awarded annually for best drawing.  Holland was like a real life Indiana Jones, an architect turned archaeologist and university professor who traveled the world, fascinated by early religious treasures!  The LOC refers to Holland as “the hero or architectural preservation”.  Some of his paintings of stained glass windows in the great churches of France may prove vital one day if restoration or recreation is needed.  Think of the Notre Dame fire and all the melted lead on those windows, or the turned shellac that’s been blurring them since it was applied in WWII.

Carles Collaboration:  Leicester Holland worked closely with famous modernist Arthur B. Carles.  In 1916, Holland wrote the scenario (solar myth) for the Philadelphia Masque where artists of the city banded together as did their seven allied art organizations (Art Club, T Square Club, Plastic Club, Sketch Club, Industrial Art School, School Of Design, and Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) to produce the event.  The stage setting was by Carles, and the costumes were a result of the color scheme approved by Holland and Carles.

Stieglitz Circle:  This circle of artists was closer than you’d think.  Leicester Holland was close friends with Stieglitz / O’Keefe cohort George F. Of in the same year (1910) that Carles first exhibited at Stieglitz’s gallery.  When you see George Of’s name and address on the back of a picture, whether by any of the above mentioned artists, you know that’s someone in the Stieglitz Circle.  The famous painting by Thomas Eakins in the MFA, Boston depicts Holland’s father.  Holland was very close with fellow artist / architects Paul Cret, Grant Miles Simon, etc., and I acquired some of their originals too (from the Holland estate).    

Philadelphia Sketch Club Member:  The artwork offered here and other pieces by Holland came from his family’s estate (see my other eBay listings).  Holland exhibited these works at major venues such as the PAFA, from 1906-1910, but didn’t offer them for sale.  He was a Member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club.  

Exhibitions:  Several of the paintings and drawings from the estate have exhibition labels on the back, from venues such as the Architectural League of New York Annual Exhibitions, The T Square Club And Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, The Pennsylvania Academy Of The Fine Arts And T Square Club Annual Architectural Exhibition, etc.  None of the labels have prices or a line for a price to be filled-in.  I don’t believe that any of them were ever offered for sale.  Some of the pieces don’t appear to be signed, but on at least one (that’s become separated from it’s framing) Holland initialed and dated it below the sight area on the front.  Leicester B. Holland’s paintings remind one of John La Farge and his stained glass work, whereas his pencil drawings are reminiscent of Whistler.

Professor Holland:  Aside from his activities as an artist, Holland was a college and university professor, spending most of his years as such teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  Holland was pretty much a genius, teaching French, Art History, Architecture, Archaeology, etc. J. Penrose Harland described Holland as a man of exceptional intelligence, practicality, and humor. “Certainly he combined sound scholarship, based on an excellent training in both the practical and the theoretical, with an extraordinary imagination, often with brilliant results. … Then, too, he was gifted with scrupulous good taste, and so was an example of the true architect, namely one who was both a technician and an artist”.