Lyttelton, from Section 319, Sumner Road

This work is one of several topographical drawings of the settlements of Akaroa and Lyttelton made by William Howard Holmes shortly after his arrival in Aotearoa in 1851. Two other examples, Akaroa, from the Cemetery, Looking N. E., made in January 1852, and Lyttelton, from the Water, made in April 1852, are at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (87/27 and 87/28). The gallery notes that ‘… his images of Lyttelton and Akaroa provide an important historical insight into the towns at the early stages of their development. Holmes arrived in Lyttelton in 1851. A qualified teacher of art and music, he was employed by the Canterbury Association to teach at the Collegiate Grammar School and he also held evening classes.’ In 1852, he moved to Te Whanganui-a-Tara. He was Drawing Master at Abel Smith Street School from 1866 to 1867 and at Wellington College from 1875 to 1881.