Frank Holl: a forgotten talent much admired by van Gogh

The Watts Gallery, just outside Guildford off the Hog’s Back, is a delightful place to visit at any season, with its permanent collection of work by G.F. Watts, whose studio it once was, and an ambitious programme of exhibitions on related subjects. But as autumn reaches over the hills a sense of the Victorian past may be even more closely felt and appreciated, and particularly a life of promise cut short, as was the case with Frank Holl (1845–88). Until this exhibition began to gather a fresh audience, few had heard of Holl or were able to summon an image by him to mind. This show brings together some 30 of his most famous works and offers us the chance to reassess an unfairly forgotten talent. Holl came from a family of engravers, and himself worked on The Graphic, a newly founded illustrated weekly newspaper. Among the contributors were Trollope and Thomas Hardy, as well as artists Frank Brangwyn and Luke Fildes.