Gorry Gallery 15. FRANCIS WILLIAM TOPHAM FRONT COVER: Samuel Lover R.H.A. 1797 - 1868 Catalogue Number 12. (Detail) © GORRY GALLERY LTD. GORRY GALLERY An Exhibition of 18th, 19th and 20th Century Irish Paintings 31st January – 8th February, 2002 1. HOWARD HELMICK 4 12. SAMUEL LOVER R.H.A. (1797-1868) ‘Procession to “The roiall iusts [jousts] holden in Smithfield, London.” A.D. 1390.’ Oil on canvas, 61 x 92 Signed and dated: ‘S. Lover 1825’ Framed in an Irish 1820s gilt frame. Illustrated front cover (detail) Exhibited: 1829, Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition (no.87). Catalogue entry affixed to the frame. Provenance: Private Collection, Dublin. Literature: Caffrey, P., ‘Samuel Lover’s Achievement as a Painter.’ Irish Arts Review, vol. III, no. 1, pp. 51-54. Caffrey, P., Treasures to Hold, Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland, pp. 135-139. Samuel Lover was born in Dublin where he was taught to paint by John Comerford (c.1770-1830). He attended some drawing lessons at the Dublin Society Schools although his name is not recorded in the lists of pupils educated there. He began exhibiting work at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1826 and was elected a full academician in 1828. Lover worked in a wide range of media, painting full-scale oil pictures, as well as watercolours, drawing caricatures and painting miniature portraits. During the period 1815-1835 he worked mainly as a painter but throughout his life he wrote poetry, songs, operas, novels, plays and was a theatrical impresario. Historical subjects that were inspired by medieval history, literature and the 1820s vogue for the historical novel were the inspiration for many of Lover’s works. Lover was interested in historic costume, pageantry, armour and the kind of neo-Gothicism associated with the revived Eglinton tournament. Lover’s ‘Procession to “The roiall iusts holden in Smithfield, London” A.D. 1370’ was painted in Dublin in 1825. It was inspired by a description of the procession of knights and their ladies on their way to the royal jousting competition held at Smithfield during the reign of Richard II (1377-1399). Lover's painting is based on the following passage written by the English historian Raphael Holinshed (died c. 1580) in his Chronicles, published in 1578: Courtiers apparelled for the iusts and upon an expier [procession] of honour; riding a soft pace - then come fourth faire and twentie ladies of honour, - three score saith Froissard - [Jean Froissard (c.1333-1410) the French historian] mounted on palfries, riding on the one side, richlie apparelled and everie ladie led by a knight with a chain of gold - silver saith Froissard - these knights being on the King's [Richard II] part, laid their armour and apparell garnished with white hertys [harts or stag] and crowns of gold about their necks, with a great number of trumpets and other instruments before them. Lover paints the procession of romantic knights in armour and ladies in flowing robes as described in Holinshed’s text. The crowded canvas is filled with figures wearing 1820s versions of medieval dress. The central figure of a lady wearing a pink gown with a fan of ostrich feathers in her hand is seated side saddle on a richly-caparisoned white Arab mare with flowing mane. The horse is led by a page and beside her walks her knight who is chained to her with a gold chain. He is an heroic figure in full armour and drawn sword. The badge of Richard II, a white hart or stag, ‘gorged’ with a crown around its neck and chained, decorates a shield and the apparel of one of the horses. The central composition is well balanced by attendant soldiers, one with a lance which would later be used in the jousting, a drummer, banners, flags, a herald mounted on a horse and a figure with two greyhounds. Dr Paul Caffrey 5 11. ROBERT GIBBS fl. 1808-1834 13. ROBERT GIBBS fl. 1808-1834 ‘The Rattle - A Family Group’ ‘The Reading Lesson - A Family Group’ Oil on canvas 30.5 x 25.5 Oil on canvas 30.5 x 25.5 Signed and dated 1834 Signed and dated 1834 W.G. Strickland in his Dictionary of Irish Artist’s published 1913 Vol. 1, page 400 lists Gibbs living in Patrick Street, Cork about 1810 practising as a portrait painter and it is recorded that he exhibited “A Composition” at the Hibernian Society of Artists, Dublin 1814 number 78. The Irish Art Loan Exhibition Ann M Stewart, Manton Publishing 1990 Vol. 1 page 269. Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin in The Watercolours of Ireland state: “He did numerous pen and watercolour drawings in grisaille of the Kilkenny area probably for the architect William Robertson. He worked widely in Southern Ireland and stylistically looks as though he was a pupil of G. Holmes”. In 1980 the Wellesley Ashe Gallery, Dublin, exhibited a collection of 31 topographical drawings on paper (watermarked 1805 and 1809) mainly of Kilkenny views but also of Cork, Galway, Tipperary and Waterford. Many of these drawings were engraved. It is interesting to note that up until now his flourished dates were 1808-1816. The 1808 date is confirmed by the large figure subject ‘Shipwrecked’ signed and dated that year which was exhibited with this Gallery June 2000 number 12. However, the discovery of this charming pair of conversation pieces dated 1834 expands our knowledge of Gibbs’ work and extends his flourished dates by a further 18 years. 6 3. JAMES ARTHUR O’CONNOR c.1792-1841 ‘A Wooded River Scene’ Oil on canvas 45.5 x 61 Signed and dated 1823 Provenance: Christie Manson and Woods, London, February 24th 1912, Lot Number 81. Private collection, United States of America. In this finely balanced landscape composition, with trees lining both river banks, the artist seems to be looking upstream from the vantage point of a boat. There are rain clouds gathering or departing and a clearing in the middle distance gives depth to the view. Although O’Connor invariably introduced figures to his landscapes they were usually solitary or sparse, their small size emphasising the scale of the surroundings and the frailty and transience of human life. Unusually, in this picture, we see a greater emphasis and size in his figures and a clear narrative. A man accompanies two well dressed women, wearing fancy bonnets and carrying full baskets, probably returning from a market, clearly relaxed and well pleased with their lot. The boatman punts away from the river bank in dramatic pose, to ferry his passengers safely to the other side of the waterway. There is an overall feeling of calm, of a moment caught in time, the long shadows cast by the sun and shafts of light through the dense foliage suggesting the approach of dusk on a summers evening. The painting is dated 1823 when O’Connor was residing in England but he was exhibiting Irish Landscapes that year at the Royal Academy, London, ‘Landscape and Figures a scene in the County of Dublin’ number 203 and ‘The Lovers Leap in the Dargle, Co. Wicklow’. He also exhibited at the British Institution, ‘Landscape and Figures, Evening’, ‘A scene in Wicklow’ number 213 and ‘Landscape with a Mill: A view at Miltown, Dublin’ number 301. Most paintings of the scale of the work in this exhibition were inspired by, indeed based on the many sketches we know he did on site, so although based in England at this time ‘Irish Paintings’ were being painted and exhibited. 7 9. GEORGE BARRET 18. BARTHOLOMEW COLLES WATKINS 8 2. WILLIAM MULREADY R.A. 1786-1863 ‘River Landscape with Buildings and Figures’ Oil on canvas 36 x 48 This early work, circa 1810, is remarkably similar to ‘The Boat House’ an oil on canvas of identical size (illustrated below) which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1872 number 39 and again in 1886 number 4 (on loan) and their closeness in composition and style place them together as companion pictures. This painting can also be compared to a work in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ‘Landscape with Cottages’ from the same period. At this time, Mulready, like his contempories Sir David Wilkie 1785 - 1841 and John Linnell 1792 - 1882 were all strongly influenced by the work of the earlier Dutch and Flemish Masters whose engravings and paintings they studied and collected. The buildings and sites portrayed by Mulready were frequently accurate presentations of specific places based on a series of meticulous drawings. The rapidly changing rural landscape around London at this time was recorded with accuracy but in a quintessential Mulready fashion. His early landscape paintings were highly saught after and those exhibited at the Royal Academy were warmly received but after 1813 he concentrated on genre subjects developing a minutely detailed and colourful style of painting which was more compatable to the oncoming Pre-Raphaelite Movement. Bibliography: William Mulready, Kathryn Moore Heleniak, New Haven and London 1980 Mulready, Marcia Pointon, Victoria and Albert Museum 1986 9 24. MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE THOMAS COLOMB H.R.H.A. 1787-1874 ‘Lake Scenery, Early Morning’ Oil on canvas 76 x 114.5 Signed, and inscribed Dublin on label verso. It is interesting to note that the inscription is on Ministry of Defence note paper. This picture relates to the Hudson Valley School of Painters and is possibly a classicised view of the Catskill Mountains in New York State. Works by Colomb are rare, seldom appearing on the market, yet he exhibited 59 works at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1841 to 1868, mainly landscapes in Ireland but also Britian, Europe, Canada and America.