Irish Artist Lambert Hollis Depicts George Washington at Dorchester Heights During the Evacuation of Boston, March 17, 1776

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Lambert Hollis (1840-1923) was an Irish immigrant who flourished as an illustrator and painter in Boston for half a century, creating an opus of art that has been forgotten over time.  Hollis was born in County Monaghan in 1840 and his family emigrated to Boston in the mid-1850s.  

Hollis drew 'The Evacuation of Boston,' featuring General George Washington and his troops watching the British fleet leave Boston Harbor.  The illustration was expressly for the book, Lives of the Presidents of the United States of America, from Washington to the Present Time, edited by John S. C. Abbott, and Russell Conwell and published in 1881 by H. Hallett and company in Portland, ME.

The Hollis illustration is part of the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection at the New York Public Library.



Hollis was best known for an iconic illustratration he drew of President Abraham Lincoln on his visit to Richmond Virginia on April 3, 1865, just days after Confederate forces evacuated the city, which had been designated the Confederacy capital.
 
Throughout his career, he painted church murals, created floral and interior designs and made numerous illustrations for books, greeting cards, calendars and other ephemera in the late 19th century.  Hollis worked for many years for Louis Prang, an American printer, lithographer and publisher who is often called the Father of the American Christmas Card.

Hollis was a close friend of sculptor Martin Milmore and poet John Boyle O'Reilly, but in later years, Hollis fell upon hard times and became a recluse.  He and his sister Anna returned to Wakefield and eventually sought admission to the Town Farm, a place for indigent citizens. He died on February 10, 1923 at age 86. 


Research + Text, Michael Quinlin








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