Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958)
A Connemara Landscape
Oil on canvas, 35.5 x 40.5cm (14 x 16'')
Signed

Provenance: Wilhelm Mueller, by whom acquired in Dublin c.1940 and in 1996 by descent to his...

 

Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958)
A Connemara Landscape
Oil on canvas, 35.5 x 40.5cm (14 x 16'')
Signed

Provenance: Wilhelm Mueller, by whom acquired in Dublin c.1940 and in 1996 by descent to his son, Robert Mueller.

Dr. S. B. Kennedy authenticated this painting in 2002 and in private correspondence provided the owner with a provisional catalogue raisonne number 0400.

A wonderfully elegant composition, which combines all the classic iconography associated with the artist at the height of his powers, this Connemara landscape benefits from a fluid application of paint and glazes. The foreground, made up of warm browns and deep yellows, is lit in patches by pale sunshine and highlights the tiny habitation, the isolated white-washed thatched cottages and dark turf reeks set off by the zig-zag of the bogland lake. The New York Times, speaking generally of Paul Henrys 1930 show at the Hackett Gallery, thought that in gentle fashion his landscapes fulfil some of the promises made by Irish literature. They are both lonely and self-contained. This loneliness is exemplified in the present work but also generates feelings of serenity and contentment, the undulating mountains, in all their magisterial grandeur, create a secure and familiar backdrop while the light-filled cumulus clouds hover overhead, bearing no threat.

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