24 by 40in. (61 by 101.6cm)

Title: STORMY COAST, COUNTY CLARE
Note: Nathaniel Hone discovered the coast of Co. Clare and the village of Kilkee in about 1890 or slightly earlier. Inspired by the dramatic coastline of dark rocks, cliffs, rock pools and stormy seas, he painted dozens of watercolours, small oil studies, and a series of large elemental canvases - some of his finest paintings, here on the West coast of Ireland. Stormy Coast, County Clare is characteristic of his great series of oils painted there. The canvas is wide, giving a strong horizontal emphasis, allowing the artist to simplify the composition into three main areas: sky, sea and rocks. Because of its simple subject-matter the exact location of the setting is not known. But the picture may have been based on a watercolour such as Waves Breaking on Rocks (National Gallery of Ireland, no. 3550). The foreground rocks provide a sturdy shelf, upon which we feel that we are standing, looking out over the stormy sea. Close by are two fierce-looking rocks, towards which a massive breaker is rolling, and against which waves are breaking into turrets of water and spray. The horizon is quite blurred, merging with the sky, which is lighter and more transparent than some of Hone's West coast skies. A flock of small seabirds fly close to the water, giving a sense of the immensity of nature around them. With their distinctive black-tipped wings, white plumage and red bills and legs, they may be oyster catchers. Hone's overall palette is quite subdued, yet the tonal colours are rich and glowing: for example, the foreground rocks, rendered in long sweeping strokes of browns, umbers and olive greens: the sea, painted in blue greens and grey greens; and the sky in pale mauves and blues. The little rock pool in the foreground reflects the sea, while the impastoed whites upon the wings of the birds, which catch the light, echo those on the breaking waves. As in a companion picture, Coast of County Clare (Dublin City Gallery, the Hugh Lane), Hone has made blurred marks over parts of the rocks and foreground to suggest drifting spray or mist. Another powerful picture in the series is A View of Kilkee, with the Atlantic (NGI no. 1398).During the nineteenth century a number of Romantic and Realist artists such as Delacroix, Courbet and McTaggart, were inspired by the subject of coastline, stormy seas and skies, and Hone's Stormy Coast is particularly close to Carl Francois Daubigny's magnificent canvas Seascape, Saint Guenolé, Brittany, c.1867 (Barber Institute, University of Birmingham). Some of Hone's seas paintings are naturalistic, while others, such as Stormy Coast, County Clare are more simplified and elemental - rocks, sea, birds and sky, expressive of his own feelings toward nature. Many of Hone's Co. Clare canvases, with general titles such as Coast, Co. Clare and Near Kilkee, were exhibited at the RHA and other venues from 1981 onwards, and it is likely that such a strong characteristic Hone painting was exhibited in Dublin during his lifetime. On the reverse of the stretcher is a label for 'Daniel Egan. Carver and Gilder…' Dublin. Dr Julian Campbell, October 2018Further reading: 'Time and Tide' (centenary essay on Hone's Co. Clare paintings), Irish Arts Review, Spring 2017, p.102-1017.

oil on canvas

signed with initials lower right; titled on Dawson Gallery label on reverse