  This is a study of holomorphic matrix models, the matrix models which
underlie the conjecture of Dijkgraaf and Vafa. I first give a systematic
description of the holomorphic one-matrix model. After discussing its
convergence sectors, I show that certain puzzles related to its perturbative
expansion admit a simple resolution in the holomorphic set-up. Constructing a
`complex' microcanonical ensemble, I check that the basic requirements of the
conjecture (in particular, the special geometry relations involving chemical
potentials) hold in the absence of the hermicity constraint. I also show that
planar solutions of the holomorphic model probe the entire moduli space of the
associated algebraic curve. Finally, I give a brief discussion of holomorphic
$ADE$ models, focusing on the example of the $A_2$ quiver, for which I extract
explicitly the relevant Riemann surface. In this case, use of the holomorphic
model is crucial, since the Hermitian approach and its attending regularization
would lead to a singular algebraic curve, thus contradicting the requirements
of the conjecture. In particular, I show how an appropriate regularization of
the holomorphic $A_2$ model produces the desired smooth Riemann surface in the
limit when the regulator is removed, and that this limit can be described as a
statistical ensemble of `reduced' holomorphic models.
