Possibly James Holland OWS Zante from the Harbour, Greece

An original 1830s watercolour painting, Possibly James Holland OWS, Zante from the Harbour, Greece.

This is a beautiful little sketch in graphite and brown and grey wash, showing a view from the water looking towards the town of Zante on the Greek island Zante (Zakynthos) in around the 1830s. Early images of Zante are scant, the town being entirely rebuilt after the 1953 during which all but two buildings in the town were destroyed. The drawing shows the old town as being densely built up the hillside and the harbour is bustling with boats. The graphite outlines are very skilfully drawn and the gradation of shading, contouring the topography and rendering the waves, is particularly accomplished.

Dating from around the 1830s, it shows the island during the period of British rule, which lasted from 1809, when the British arrived to drive out the French occupation, until 1864, when the island finally joined with independent Greece. There was therefore a heavy British military presence on the island at the time. It was also a time when Greece held a special place in the British consciousness, its people and antiquities made popular by Lord Byron. One of the first and best-known philhellenes, Byron actively participated in Greece’s War of Independence and who eventually lost his life in Missolonghi in 1824.

On thin card.