11
Walter Frederick Osborne RHA ROI (1859-1903)
Estimate:
€15,000 - €20,000
Passed
Live Auction
Important Irish Art - 26 November 2018
Size
9.50 by 13.75in. (24.1 by 34.9cm)
Description
Title: GIRL FEEDING CALVES
Note: Walter Osborne's small painting of a girl feeding calves by hand has a simplicity and intimacy to it. Being the son of an animal painter, William Osborne, Walter had an affection for animals, both domestic and farm animals, and pets, and these, often in the company of children, featured in many paintings throughout his career, for example, in Grey Morning in a Breton Farmyard, 1883, where there is a calf with children, and Milking Time and its attendant pictures, set at Portmarnock. In Girl Feeding Calves, the figure and animals are shown in a small field or paddock, surrounded by stone walls and trees, indicated in blurred brushstrokes, to give a protective feel. The girl holds out a pan from which the calves feed. It is as if Osborne has come across this gentle scene, or glimpsed it from a window, and captured it swiftly in paint. He employs off-whites, warm browns and siennas, olives and yellow greens, in some places working over the colours or blurring the brushstrokes to capture the scene quickly. Dr. Julian Campbell
Note: Walter Osborne's small painting of a girl feeding calves by hand has a simplicity and intimacy to it. Being the son of an animal painter, William Osborne, Walter had an affection for animals, both domestic and farm animals, and pets, and these, often in the company of children, featured in many paintings throughout his career, for example, in Grey Morning in a Breton Farmyard, 1883, where there is a calf with children, and Milking Time and its attendant pictures, set at Portmarnock. In Girl Feeding Calves, the figure and animals are shown in a small field or paddock, surrounded by stone walls and trees, indicated in blurred brushstrokes, to give a protective feel. The girl holds out a pan from which the calves feed. It is as if Osborne has come across this gentle scene, or glimpsed it from a window, and captured it swiftly in paint. He employs off-whites, warm browns and siennas, olives and yellow greens, in some places working over the colours or blurring the brushstrokes to capture the scene quickly. Dr. Julian Campbell
Medium
oil on canvas laid on board
Provenance
Collection of Mr & Mrs Oísín Kelly RHA (1916-1971);James Adam Salesroom, Dublin, December 1989, lot 111;Collection of Ian Stuart, sculptor (1926-2013);Whyte's, 26 April 2005, lot 105;Private collection;Whyte's, 26 September 2016, lot 81;Private collection
