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81
Walter Frederick Osborne RHA ROI (1859-1903)
GIRL FEEDING CALVES
oil on canvas laid on board
9½ x 13¾in. (24.13 x 34.93cm)
Provenance:
Collection of Mr & Mrs Oísín Kelly RHA (1916-1971);
James Adam Salesroom, Dublin, December 1989, lot 111;
Collection of Ian Stuart, sculptor (1926-2013);
Whyte’s, 26 April 2005, lot 105;
Private collection
Walter Osborne’s small painting of a girl feeding calves by hand has a simplicity and intimacy to it.
Being the son of an animal painter, William Osborne, Walter had an affection for animals, both domestic
and farm animals, and pets, and these, often in the company of children, featured in many paintings
throughout his career, for example, in Grey Morning in a Breton Farmyard, 1883, where there is a calf with
children, and Milking Time and its attendant pictures, set at Portmarnock.
In Girl Feeding Calves, the figure and animals are shown in a small field or paddock, surrounded by
tone walls and trees, indicated in blurred brushstrokes, to give a protective feel. The girl holds out a pan
from which the calves feed. It is as if Osborne has come across this gentle scene, or glimpsed it from a
window, and captured it swiftly in paint. He employs off-whites, warm browns and siennas, olives and
yellow greens, in some places working over the colours or blurring the brushstrokes to capture the scene
quickly.
Dr. Julian Campbell
August 2016
€18000-€22000 (£15380-£18800 approx.)
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