William Hole Biography

William Brassey Hole RSA (1846-1917) was a Scottish Victorian painter, illustrator, etcher and engraver. He was known for his industrial, historical and biblical scenes.

Hole was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, the son of a doctor, Richard Brassey Hole and his wife Ann Burn Hole (nee Fergusson); his father died in the cholera epidemic of 1849, when William was only 3 years of age, and the family relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland, shortly afterwards. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy then served an apprenticeship as a civil engineer for 5 years, although he really wanted to be an artist.

In 1869, he sailed from Swansea to Genoa, and spent the next 6 months travelling and sketching around Italy. In Rome he made the acquaintance of Keeley Halswelle who gave him practical advice on art and encouraged him to become a professional painter.

On returning to Edinburgh, Hole entered the School of Design and then won admission to the life school of the Royal Scottish Academy, first exhibiting there in 1873; in 1878 he was elected an associate of the Academy. Around this time he took up etching and was accepted into the Royal Society of Painters and Etchers (RE) in 1885; he was already a member of the Royal Scottish Watercolour Society (RSW) from 1884.

Around 1900, he travelled to Palestine in order to study the background for biblical painting. There he began working on the 80 watercolours that would eventually appear as illustrations in his book The Life of Jesus of Nazareth. In April to May 1906 these pictures were shown at an exhibition at the Fine Art Society in London. He also painted scenes from the Old Testament.