University offers rare opportunity to see artists' work

Sketches by portrait artist George Herbert Buckingham Holland are part of the University of Northampton Archive

Hundreds of original sketches by two 20th-Century artists will be on show to the public as part of a celebration of a county.

The University of Northampton Archives will display the works of George Herbert Buckingham Holland, a Northampton-born portrait painter, and Jean O'Neill, a former student of the Northampton School of Art.

The exhibition will commemorate Northamptonshire Day, which will be marked on 25 October by the county's two councils and local organisations.

Mandy Morgan, an archivist at the university, said, the department was "thrilled to be able to highlight these collections with the public".

Artist Jean O'Neill was a former student of the Northampton School of Art

George Herbert Buckingham Holland was born in 1901 in Northampton, where he was raised, and he later trained at Leicester School of Art.

His work is held in the National Portrait Gallery and the University of Northampton Archives contain about 625 pencil and charcoal sketches, many from his early training period in the 1920s and 1930s.

Holland spent most of his life painting local dignitaries, university figures and friends, as well as creating landscapes and murals

Jean O'Neill studied at the Northampton School of Art in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Her collection includes pencil and charcoal sketches as well as watercolour travel sketches and oil portraits of family and friends.

Ms Morgan said: "Both Holland and O'Neill have strong local roots, and their work provides a unique window into Northampton's artistic past.

"It's a chance for the community to engage with their heritage in a very up-close and personal way."

O'Neill painted watercolour travel sketches as well as potraits

The university said members of the public who wish to view the collections in person were invited to contact the University Archive Team to arrange an appointment.

It added the collections were carefully preserved, and viewings would be managed to ensure their continued protection.

Northamptonshire Day is set to be marked with event at Northampton Market Square on 25 October.