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IMPORTANT IRISH ART · 30 MAY 2016 AT 6PM
Walter Osborne was fascinated by scenes of rural life and farming. This picture, Joe the Swineherd, is one
of a series of atmospheric images of country people and farm hands at work, which he painted in the rural
English landscape in the late 1880s and early 1890s. A boy in cap is shown in the foreground, watching over a
group of pigs. The figures are vied in shadow, ‘au contre jour’, casting shadows upon the ground. The stubble
fields stretch towards the gentle Downs in the distance, and the scene is lit by a warm golden light, evoking a
sense of heat and atmosphere in a late summer or early autumn day. Small figures at work and some animals,
a large haystack and a caravan, are visible in the distance and smoke rises from a fire.
The scene may be set in Berkshire, in the Hampshire Downs, or close to Rye in Kent, where Osborne was
working in these years. (1)
Osborne’s choice of subject, whether in Ireland, England, or on the Continent, was influenced not only by the
village environment or landscape around him, but also by the availability of models, the boys and girls who
agreed to pose for him; the girls in coiffes and aprons in villages in Brittany, for instance; the ragged crop-
haired boys in Dublin streets, local children on English farms and in harbour towns; as well as the children
of friends in Dublin gardens. In certain cases the particular name of the model has been recorded, giving a
sense of intimacy to the subject. Thus, we have, for example, Marie, a Girl In Brittany; Bessie Osborne (no
relation to the artist), who modelled for his painting Feeding Chickens, 1884 (2); Michael, a waiter in a hotel
in Co. Kerry; Walter Armstrong in the Café de Madrid; and here, Joe, the Swineherd.
Osborne painted a series of pictures of people at work in the flat English countryside. These include The Re-
turn of the Flock, 1885, A Shepherd and his Flock, 1887, Ploughing, c.1887, Potato Gathering, 1888, Harvest
Time, 1890, (3) and Joe the Swineherd, 1890, one of the largest pictures in the series. Like the great French
Peasant artists such as Millet and Charles Jacque, and the Dutchman Anton Mauve, who represented humble
people and their flocks in an heroic manner, Osborne also observed shepherds and herders with their farm
animals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, goats and here, pigs.
regarded as a lowly member of society. Yet pigs were featured in some farmyard scenes in Paul Serusier, of the
Pont-Aven School, and later in a lively drawing by Picasso. (5)
Osborne was thus most original in depicting this humble animal and its minder in their landscape in a Nat-
uralistic and sympathetic manner. He may have been struck, as the present-day visitor to England is, by the
large number of pig farms scattered across the countryside (6). He depicts a number of black domestic pigs,
one of the common breeds, and a couple of brindled ones (7), conveying well their sociability and curiosity.
Osborne places the figure of the boy in the lower right-hand corner of the picture. He wears a cap over fair
hair, and is clad in plain, workday clothes; jacket, breeches and boots. He is viewed from behind, and looks
at the pigs and into the landscape. Light falls on the side of his cap, trousers and boots, and shines on the
backs of the pigs. The figures are set against the light, and cast mauve shadows upon the stubble field, which
is rendered with bold, textured strokes. Osborne employs a rich variety of hues in the landscape: golds, pinks,
yellows and lime greens, blues, violets and reds, the Downs in the background are green and pink, conveyed
in long brushstrokes, while pale clouds rise above the horizon, gleaming with sunlight, giving a serene mood.
The line of the stick held by the boy, leading into the picture, is counterpointed by a diagonal line on the
Downs. From the foreground faint lines lead through the stubble into the distance, giving a sense of per-
spective to the picture. This perspective, the cropping of the composition, and the kind of glow around the
figures, could suggest that Osborne made use of photography in composing his pictures, but this has not been
confirmed.
The model for the boy in Joe the Swineherd may appear in other contemporary pictures by Osborne, for
example the fair-haired child with cap who rests against the haystacks in Harvest Time, c.1890, (although the
latter appears younger), and in The Cornfield, 1890, (Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane).