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Osborne also painted a small study of Joe the Swineherd, which he exhibited at the Dublin Art Club in 1891.
The forms of the pigs are echoed in a delightful pencil study of pigs sketched in Roundstone, Co. Galway in
1897 (8).
The present picture of Joe the Swineherd was exhibited at several venues shortly after its completion: at
the Royal Academy, London and at the Autumn Exhibition, Liverpool, in 1891 and at the Royal Hibernian
Academy, Dublin the following year. It appears to have remained unsold at these venues, and Stephen Gwynn
suggests that it remained in the artist’s collection during his lifetime (8) (and perhaps reminding him (Os-
borne) of his happy youthful days painting in the countryside in sunshine). In 1983 the painting was included
in the large Walter Osborne exhibition curated by Jeanne Sheehy, and held at the National Gallery of Ireland,
Dublin.
Dr Julian Campbell
April 2016
1.
Jeanne Sheehy Walter Osborne, Ballycotton, 1974, p.28
2.
J. Sheehy, 1974, p.28; and Donal Maguire, ‘A Letter from Walter Osborne’, Irish Arts Review, Spring
2016, p.144
3.
J. Sheehy, 1974, cat. nos. 128, 152, 154, 180, 236 and 234; respectively, Irish Sale, Christie’s, 15 May
2003, lot 37;
J. Sheehy, Walter Osborne, 1983, cat. no. 26
Important Irish Art, Adam’s, 5 Dec. 2001, lot 41;
Important Irish Art, Adam’s, 4 Dec. 2015, lot 69;
Important Irish Art, Adam’s/Bonham’s, 29 May 2002, lot 41;
4.
James Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, 1979 edition, p.130.
5.
eg. Paul Serusier, Breton Woman Feeding Pigs. (Musée departmen de Prieure, Saint-Germain-en-
Laye; Picasso, Pigs, c.1906 (Succession Picasso).
6.
However, some native breeds of pig are in decline in Britain, Country Life, 18 Feb. 2015, p.26.
7.
Stephen Gwynn described the animals in Osborne’s pictures as ‘black Berkshire yearlings’. Gwynn,
Garden Wisdom, 1921, p.30.
8.
W. Osborne, Pig Studies, Roundstone, 1897, Important Irish Art, Adam’s, 4 Dec. 2012 lot 67.
Compare to Picasso’s drawing Pigs, (see note 5, above).
(I am grateful to George Mealy, Snr, and Cait Madigan, Mealy’s Castlecomer, for assistance in my research).
€60,000-€80,000 (£47,240-£62,990 approx.)
Large Image & Place Bid Lot 25