CHATSWORTH SUMMER FINE ART SALE 18th & 19th June 2025

81 Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 714. James Arthur O’Connor (1792-1842) “Travellers on a Country Road,” c. 1830, O.O.C., Signed, faintly, l.r., 43cms x 61cms (17” x 24”). (1) Bears label on frame ‘James Arthur O’Connor 1792-1841’ Painted probably around 1830, this painting of a wooded landscape, with figures on a country road, is a classic work by O’Connor, an important painter in the Irish Romantic movement. Although the scene is not specified, many of O’Connor’s landscapes are imaginative, based on his sketches of views in Ireland, particularly in Co. Wicklow but with embellishments by the artist. As with many of his paintings, the shadows cast by clouds add drama to the landscape, in this case the dark hillside on the right contrasts with the sunlit path and landscape in the distance. In the foreground, a man wearing a red waistcoat carries a walking stick, while in the background, near a gate, the figure of a woman can be seen. Smoke rises from the chimney of a cottage in the woods. The overall effect is of a fine summer’s day, with clouds in a blue sky, that pales towards the horizon. In the foreground, the landscape is rendered in detail, while in the distance the artist has used more nuanced colours, faded greens and pale blues – O’Connor’s landscapes are characterised by this delicate use of colour. Born at Aston’s Quay, Dublin, in 1792, O’Connor was the son of an engraver and print seller. A student at the Dublin Society’s Drawing Schools, he first exhibited in 1809. Four years later, in company with fellow students, George Petrie and Francis Danby, he travelled to London. Returning to Ireland, O’Connor attempted to set up as an artist, but in 1822 decided to move permanently to England, where he exhibited regularly over the next two decades, while also undertaking tours of the Continent. He also made regular visits back to Ireland. Although he painted many views of Irish scenery while in England, and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and the British Institution, he was not financially successful, and in 1842 died in some poverty. His finest work, The FrightenedWaggoner, is in the National Gallery of Ireland. Dr. Peter Murray 2025 €6,000 - €8,000