ATTRIBUTED TO SIR RICHARD HOLMES (1835-1911)
SIX ILLUMINATED PAGES (ALFRED LORD TENNYSON, SELECTIONS FROM TENNYSON’S IDYLLS OF THE KING)
£1,512
Auction: Lots 1 to 336 | 16th October at 10am
Description
pen and ink, watercolour, bodycolour and gilt, framed, to include ‘The Song the novice sang at Amesbury’; 'The Song of Vivien'; ‘Oh now what hearts have men!’; ‘How Prince Geraint heard Enid sing…’; The Song of Love and Death which Elaine sang'; and ‘The Song of Enid’ (6)
Dimensions
33cm x 23.5cm (frame size 46.5cm x 37cm)
Footnote
Literature: Cardiff University Special Collections and Archives Exhibition ‘Tennyson’s Women', August 2016 (https://scolarcardiff.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/tennysons-women/)
Note: Sir Richard Rivington Holmes (1835-1911) became an assistant in the manuscripts department of the British Museum in 1854 after his father's death. In 1867 he was appointed archaeologist to Lord Napier's Abyssinian Expedition to Maqdala. During the expedition he purchased a collection of material on behalf of The British Museum. He was librarian at Windsor Castle between 1870 and 1906. In 1898 he was nominated Sergeant-at-arms to Queen Victoria and made M.V.O in 1897, C.V.O in 1901 and K.C.V.O in 1905.
Holmes was also a draughtsman and examples of his drawings are in the collections of The British Museum.