Arthur Armstrong RHA (1924-1996) Glendalough Oil on canvas, collage and carved board, 76 x 91.5cm, (30 x 36'') Provenance: Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, whence purchased by Dr & Mrs J.B....

Arthur Armstrong RHA (1924-1996) Glendalough Oil on canvas, collage and carved board, 76 x 91.5cm, (30 x 36'') Provenance: Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, whence purchased by Dr & Mrs J.B. Kearney, August 1968 Awarded the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal at the Oireachtas Exhibition of 1968 under the title Gleann d? Loch, this is a monumental piece of work, relying successfully on the heavy impasto which gives that sculptural quality beloved of Armstrong. His use of plaster lends an added, raised-relief dimension to the work. The composition creates a great feeling of drama, the headstones providing a proscenium arch for the grand sweep of the lough itself. The strong verticals of the foreground are a striking counterpoint to the soft curvilinears of the background. We are reminded that although man may impose on nature she always has the upper hand. Like man himself, the manmade structures crumble and disintegrate whilst time works with the forces of nature to adapt and continue. This painting is almost by way of being a vanitas, as in Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas, a reminder of the transcience of life and the certainty of death. In Gleann d? Loch, a place of great beauty and historical significance, Armstrong is furnishing us with a memento mori - 'Remember you are mortal; remember you will die.' Sile Connaughton-Deeny, 2007

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