Walter Frederick Osborne RHA (1859 - 1903)
A Sea Urchin (1886)
Oil on board, 22 x 13cm (9 x 5½")
Signed and dated 1886

Exhibited: Possibly Dublin Art Club, 1886, No. 17, entitled 'A Sea...

Walter Frederick Osborne RHA (1859 - 1903)
A Sea Urchin (1886)
Oil on board, 22 x 13cm (9 x 5½")
Signed and dated 1886

Exhibited: Possibly Dublin Art Club, 1886, No. 17, entitled 'A Sea Urchin', £5

Literature: Jeanne Sheehy, Walter Osborne, Ballycotton, 1974, Cat. No. 145

A small barefoot boy sits upon a rowing boat which is drawn up on a sloping beach. Behind is a wall and a cluster of red roofed houses. The scene is in shadow, but the gleaming light in the sky suggests that it may be daylight rather than dusk. The exact location of the picture is not known. From 1884 to the early nineties Walter Osborne painted in a number of English coastal villages including Southwold, Walberswick, Hastings and Rye. The setting here may be a riverside scene in Lincoln, or possibly Wells - Next-the-Sea on the north Norfolk coast, which Osborne visited c.1885-1886.

In earlier times this small town had been an important port, conducting a thriving trade with Holland. But the harbour had sifted up and Wells was now situated a mile inland, while still retaining its long quayside. Rowing boats are drawn up upon the beach, and a small ragged boy leans against the boat in the foreground. In his seaside pictures Osborne loved observing the children who hung around the harbour, assisted the fisherman, played games and told stories. The boy looks at the viewer with curiosity. Osborne notes details such as his red headwear, a rope, a mast or stick, a small group of people in front of the house and the tall brick chimneys with smoke rising.

Osborne was inspired by sunlit landscapes, but he was also drawn to scenes in shadow where the tonality is muted and the figure is shown against the light. In this picture, a range of reds, umbers, Naples yellows, siennas and mauves is used. The distinctive vermilion red of the boy's cap draws our eyes and provides a point of focus. Although small in scale the picture is executed with the same careful realist style such as in Osborne's larger paintings, each part lovingly painted with deft brushstrokes. A 'square-brush' style is employed where the left edge of the boat meets the background, while the stony shingle in the foreground is conveyed with vigorous impasto, partially applied by a palette knife.

The picture is painted on a small wooden panel, signed with the artist's neat lettering, and dated 1886. It seems likely that this is the painting entitled A Sea Urchin which he exhibited at the first winter exhibition of the Dublin Art Club (of which Osborne was a founding member) in December 1886. The fact that he includes the letters 'RHA' after his name is of great significance in that having just been elected a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in October, this may be the first occasion where he proudly included his title after his name.

Julian Campbell, January 2023

 

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