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72 JOSEPH O’REILLY (1865-1893)
The Tinsmith
Oil on canvas, 111 x 142cm (43.5 x 55.75”)
€ 8,000 - 12,000
Among the group of Continental-trained young Irish artists, which included Walter Osborne, Joseph M. Kavanagh, Nathaniel Hill, Richard T. Moynan, Dermod O’Brien and Henry Allen, who
introduced a new Realism into Irish art in the 1880’s and 1890’s, one of the least-known is Joseph O’Reilly
(1)
. Slightly younger than some of the others, of a poorer background, and dying at
a young age, O’Reilly was a highly-accomplished, hard-working and brilliant artist, who combined elements of the Genre painting of an earlier period with a modern Naturalism. One of his
pictures is in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland, while many of the others are in private collections.
Joseph O’Reilly was born into a family of humble background in Upper Grangegorman, Dublin in 1865 (the same year that O’Brien and Allan were born). He studied at the Royal Hibernian
Academy (RHA) Schools from 1884-1888, and he was soon regarded as a brilliant student. He won a large number of prizes, and was already exhibiting pictures at the RHA and Royal Dublin
Society (RDS). In 1885 he was awarded a bronze medal, and he won a silver medal for Life Drawing. In 1887 the painting ‘
A Young Girl’s Toilet
’ won the Albert Scholarship, and his ‘I
n the National
Gallery’
the Taylor Prize at the RDS. In 1889 he won a scholarship of £50 - for
‘A Parisian Girl’,
and in 1890 a Taylor Scholarship for
‘An Italian Flower Girl’
and
‘Contributions Earnestly Solicited’.
O’Reilly became a friend of Walter Osborne, who greatly admired his work. Osborne and many of his circle had studied in Antwerp; however, it was to Paris that he encouraged O’Reilly to go
to continue his art education. There he was a pupil, not in the popular Academie Julian, but in the Academie of Delecluse, at 84, Rue Notre Dame des Champs, Montparnasse, c.1888-89. It was
described in the 1890’s as being “probably the most reactionary atelier in Paris and already moribund”.
(2)
But this criticism is unfair, as is evidenced by the fine atelier- inspired figure paintings
produced by O’Reilly. These include ‘
Head and Shoulders of a Girl’,
1892 (NGI) and
‘Torso of a Nude Boy’
which are notable for their skilled drawing, bold realism and sense of tone.
Back home in Ireland, he specialized in genre scenes and landscapes. His genre subjects include ‘
An Interesting Game
’, c.1892, a scene of children playing cards and ‘
Retribution
’
(3)
; ‘
Girl Musician’
and
‘Chimney Sweep’
(4)
. One of O’Reillys finest interiors is ‘
Contributions Earnestly Solicited
’, 1890 (mentioned above) offered in Adam’s in 2013
(5)
featuring a seated barefoot boy surrounded
by pets. It illustrates the artist’s skilled treatment of glassy sunlight falling in a room, precise representation of still-life objects, and distinctive realism.
O’Reilly exhibited at the RHA, 1885-1893, and many pictures at the Dublin Sketching Club, 1887-1892. Such was the esteem with which he was held that he was elected an associate of the RHA
on 18 October 1892. However he contracted tuberculosis, and died on 31 March 1893, aged only twenty eight, thus : “ closing at an early age what promised to be a brilliant and successful
career” (W.G.Strickland)
(6)
. O’Reilly was buried at Glasnevin Cemetary, the presence of Osborne, Moynan, Allan and Alfred Grey at his funeral indicating the respect with which he was held by
his fellow artists.
The present large canvas ‘
The Tinsmith’
shows a genre scene of a family in an interior: featuring an elderly tinsmith at work with pots and pans, and a girl, and an infant looking on. The painting
seems to combine the genre tradition of earlier artists, such as Edward Sheil (c.1834-69) and George W. Brownlow (c.1835-76)
(7)
, in its careful, affectionate observation of family life, yet also
the more modern Naturalism of the 1880’s. The man is seated on a low chair, wearing a protective apron, and working at a metal bowl upon his knees. Light falls on his handsome face, silver
hair and beard. Small tools are placed at his feet, and a simple brazier glows with heat. Scattered nearby are some of the other objects on which he is working: kettle, cylinder and bucket.
The angle and modeling of the man’s face is comparable to that in O’Reilly’s
‘Retribution
’, and a similar earthenware jar upon a shelf appears in both pictures. To the left of the picture a girl is
seated on a stool, watching the man at work. She also restrains the blond toddler, touchingly holding the folds of her dress, who leans forward, wooden spoon in one hand, doll in the other,
wanting to be part of the activity. The white table cloth on the dining table in the background is tattered at the edges, but the white objects and lighted candle on it suggest a simple gentility.
The children are wearing comfortable, clean clothes, have pink, healthy cheeks and shining hair.
The overall tonality of the picture is quite subdued, but the colours: browns, maroons, whites, silvery greys and orange, are subtly balanced throughout the picture. The gleaming greys of the
man’s hair, for instance, are also seen in the tones of his sleeves, and the metal instruments around him. The white pinafore which the child is wearing is repeated in the tablecloth, while the
orange of her dress is echoed in the glowing brazier. The cheeks of the seated girl have a healthy pink hue, while the pink glow on the tablecloth below the candle is beautifully observed.
We are grateful to Julian Campbell for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
[A printed trade label on the stretcher indicates that it was supplied by J.D. Spence, ‘Printseller, Artist’s Colorman, Picture Frame Maker’ of Lower Sackville Street, Dublin. Walter Osborne also purchased artists materials at
this supplier. (8) ]
Notes.
(1) For Joseph O’Reilly, see W.G.Strickland, Dictionary of Irish Artists, vol. 2, 1913; The Irish Impressionists, 1984; Nicola Figgis, ed. Painting 1600-1900, Art and Architecture of Ireland, vol.2, 2014; Claudia Kinmonth, Joseph
O’Reilly, Contributions Earnestly Solicited, Adam’s, 26 March 2013, p.88
(2) Arthur Lett Haines, in Cedric Morris, by Richard Morphet, 1984, p.18
(3) Gorry Gallery, 1987 no.45; and 1998 no.61
(4) Iveagh Gallery, Dublin
(5) See C.Kinmonth, 2013, p.88
(6) Strickland, vol. 2, p.201
(7) See, for example, ‘Home After Work’, by Sheil, Gorry Gallery, 2003, no.15 and ‘Come Awa’, by Brownlow, Adam’s 26 Sept. 2012 lot 42.
(8) See Nicola Figgis, ‘Artists’ Materials’ in Painting 1600-1900, Art and Architecture of Ireland, vol.2, 2014, p.140.