56
29
Nathaniel Hone RHA (1831-1917)
Cattle at Malahide
Oil on canvas, 61 x 91.5cm (24 x 36”)
Provenance: Leo Smith (Dawson Gallery), Dublin, 29th November 1943 where purchased by J.P. Reihill Snr;
Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€20,000 - 30,000
Nathaniel Hone was the first native artist to introduce the in-
fluence of 19
th
century French Naturalism to Irish painting.
He was born in Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin in 1831, the son
of Brindley Hone, a merchant and director of the Midland
Great Western Railway and was the great-grandnephew of
the 18
th
century painter of the same name. Though a member
of this very artistic family, his initial training was as an engi-
neer at Trinity College Dublin followed by a brief period of
work for the Irish Railway before going to Paris in 1853, at
the age of twenty-one to study painting. He first studied under
Adolphe Yvon, the French military painter and later Thomas
Couture who was one of the earliest exponents of realism and
from whom Hone learned principles which would influence
his work throughout his career.
Hone moved to the village of Barbizon in the Forest of Fon-
tainebleau circa 1856, where he painted with Millet, Courbet,
Daubigny and Harpignies. Corot’s paintings had the greatest
influence upon his work.The advice which Hone had absorbed
from Couture to “retain the brilliant qualities of a first paint-
ing”, were echoed by Corot in Barbizon: “surrender to the first
impression”. While based in Fontainebleau, Hone also made
trips to Normandy, Brittany, the Mediterranean coast and
briefly visited Italy. Wherever he travelled his subject matter
was consistent, always choosing to observe the landscape and
country life, in scenes of shepherds with their herds, fishing
villages and the seashore.
During his seventeen years in France,Hone made regular visits
home before this final return in 1872. Within a few months
he married Magdalen Jameson of the wealthy, distilling family
and they settled near Malahide. The paintings which he com-
pleted in Ireland after his return from France maintain the
mood and muted tonality characteristic of the Barbizon School.
He chose similar subjects to those he had portrayed in France:
woodlands, pastures and coastline; the major part of his out-
put was of scenes around Dublin Bay although he also painted
in Wicklow, Donegal, Mayo and Clare and made several trips
abroad to Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt.
From 1876, except for four years, Hone exhibited at the RHA.
He was elected a full member in 1880 and in 1894 became Pro-
fessor of Painting. His exhibition with John Butler Yeats in 1901
was one of the turning points for the history of Irish art as it
was their paintings which convinced Sir Hugh Lane that Dublin
should have a gallery of modern art. After his death in 1917 his
widow bequeathed the contents of his studio to the National
Gallery of Ireland.
Hone rarely dated his work so that it is difficult to establish chro-
nology. The similarity of many of his motifs and subjects often
make it difficult to tell whether a view is Irish or French. Equally
it is difficult to chart his developments on stylistic grounds alone.
The olive silvery green tonality of this painting is particularly
reminiscent of Corot as is its simplicity and broad treatment,
especially in the foreground which is punctuated here and there
with deft flickering brushstrokes depicting wild flowers and
plants, a favourite device of Corot’s. The warm brownish-pink
undercoat or ‘ébauche’ employed by Hone beneath the surface of
the paint is here allowed to show through the thin green wash
to portray the sandy nature of soil so close to the sea. The use
of an ébauche, a technique which Hone learned from Couture,
gives the painting a subdued tonality. The sky was as important
to Hone as the land or seascape. His preference was for a low ho-
rizon which allowed him to engage with the prevailing weather
conditions.
