Adam's IMPORTANT IRISH ART 4 DECEMBER 2024

41 NATHANIEL HONE RHA (1831 - 1917) Mediterranean Coastal Scene Oil on canvas, 85 x 127cm (33½ x 50’’) Provenance: Collection of the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., thence by descent. € 10,000 - 15,000 Mediterranean Coastal Scene is a fine example of Nathaniel Hone’s South of France subjects painted on a very large canvas, - larger than the majority of his paintings. Hone made several visits to the Mediterranean in the 1870s and 1880s, painting at various locations along the coast, for instance at Cannes, Antibes, Nice and Villefranche, at Cap St. Martin, St. Jean-Cap Ferrat, Beaulieu, Ezé and Menton, and across the border to Bordighera in Italy. Having spent many years studying in Paris, painting in the Forest of Fountainebleu, then returning to Ireland, the sunshine and blue skies, the quality of light, the vegetation and the azure sea of the Riviera were a revelation to him. He was inspired to paint a series of colourful, light-filled watercolours and oils. These form a unique body of work in Hone’s oeuvre. Hone’s Mediterranean pictures were the first paintings which he exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin in the 1870s. During this period many French artists were drawn to the South of France, including Harpignes and Ziem, who Hone had known at Barbizon, and Impressionists such as Renoir, Berthe Morisot and Monet.¹ The Riviera was also becoming increasingly pop- ular as a destination for tourists seeking winter sunshine. Hone painted along the coast, and was drawn to the fishing village of Beaulieu with it’s nearby beach and stretch of cliffs, known as ‘Pe- tite Afrique’ (Little Africa) for its sunny, temperate climate. Hone painted a series of watercolours and oils of this coastline. These Hon . F r an c i s D . Mu r naghan J r. Co l l e c t i on