Watercolor on paper, signed at lower left, matted and framed below glass.

Sheet sight 9 3/4 x 14 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 20 x 24 in.

Ohio-born painter William Henry Holmes was a survey-field artist who worked as an educator before moving to Washington D.C. in 1872, where he studied art with Theodore Kaufmann and sketched specimens for the Smithsonian Institution. He also studied in Germany at the Munich Art Academy. In 1872, he became the field artist for the United States Geological Survey, called the "Hayden Expedition", led by Ferdinand Hayden. From 1884 to 1886, Holmes held positions as Head Curator of Chicago's Field Museum and Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1902 to 1920. In 1920 he became director of the National Gallery of Art.

Holmes was a member of the Washington Watercolor Club, the Washington Landscape Club, the Washington Society of Fine Art, the Society of Washington Artists, and the Cosmos Club. Among his exhibition venues were the Corcoran Gallery from 1919 to 1926, the National Academy of Design; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Boston Art Club; and the Brooklyn Art Association.

Good estate condition, slight toning to the sheet, not examined outside the frame.