Erskine Nicol RSA ARA (1825 - 1904)
'It Won't Slip this Time'
Oil on canvas, 100 x 70cm
Signed and dated 1874

Erskine Nicol was a Scottish painter whose frequent visits to and love for...

Erskine Nicol RSA ARA (1825 - 1904)
'It Won't Slip this Time'
Oil on canvas, 100 x 70cm
Signed and dated 1874

Erskine Nicol was a Scottish painter whose frequent visits to and love for Ireland allowed him to slip into our collective of Irish artists. First visiting the country in 1846, Nicol became enamoured by scenes of Irish rural life and continued to paint such subjects for the length of his career.

It is interesting to note the difference with which Nicol addressed his Irish subjects compared to the approach used when painting his fellow Scotsman. In the current lot, we are presented with a Scottish fisherman. Despite his flaming red hair, we are immediately alerted to his nationality by the presence of his Balmoral Bonnet, a hat traditionally worn in the Scottish highlands. This differs from the dress of his Irish models that are usually shown with the customary soft top hat.

Unlike hunting and shooting, fishing was a sport for every class and it is fair to assume that this man is of the same social standing as Nicols rural Irish subjects. However, the Victorian age was a time in which science was developed and devoured with an insatiable hunger and several theories were spread regarding the evolution of man and its effects on the present physical make up of different races. In particular, physiognomy became popular, a study in which an emphasis was placed on the formation of the head in order to tell someones character or race.

Still in the grips of a colonial Britain, such ideologies were placed onto the Irish population and, affected by these concepts, Nicol often transferred various attributes onto his depictions of Ireland and her inhabitants. In particular, Nicol would use the angle and size of his subjects nose in order to portray their social character. A small, upturned nose was seen as denoting an uneducated demeanour and was often falsely applied to an Irish face. In contrast, we see Nicols Scotsman as boasting a strong and straight nose, casting him in a more favourable light.

Regardless of who he is painting, it is evident, through his work, that Nicol held a genuine fondness and sympathy for those that he illustrated. In this piece, delicate brushstrokes bring his fishermans face to life, enabling us to feel the determination with which he works. Such empathy turns a figure into a story and we cannot help but root for his success. Behind him, the wistful rendering of the receding mountains is obscure enough to allow the viewer to place the scene in any mountain pass, bringing a personal romanticism to the piece. In a similar manner, Nicols Irish scenes were painted so as to mimic each and every town, their caricatured tenants, as here, easily taking the form of a brother, sister, neighbour or acquaintance.

 

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