Artist in oil, pastel and charcoal, conservator and teacher, born in Richmond, Yorkshire. He gained a fine art degree at West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, 1969–73 (teachers including Robin Ball and Harold Cheesman), then a diploma in paper conservation at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, 1973–5. He was a fellow of the International Institute of Conservation. In 1977, Holmes was visiting professor teaching conservation at postgraduate level at New York University. During the 1970s and 1980s, he ran his own private press, producing limited editions which he printed, illustrated and bound by hand. His work can be found in the British Library, Victoria & Albert Museum and Trinity College in Dublin. British war artists influenced Holmes’ work, in which sound draughtsmanship, detached analysis of spatial depth, a strong sense of colour and the fall of light were features.