ADAM'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART 25 MARCH 2026

34 20 NATHANIEL HONE RHA (1831- 1917) A Mediterranean Coastal View Oil on canvas, 60 x 100.5cm (23¾ x 39½”) Provenance: Private collection, Ireland. Given by the artist to a member of the Jameson family (his in-laws); thence by descent. € 10,000 - 15,000 Painted circa 1890, this expansive Mediterranean coastal view captures the artist at the height of his powers, working en plein air during one of his exten- sive continental tours en route to Greece and Egypt. The composition is bathed in a lucid southern light. Sailing boats drift across a tranquil harbour, their la- teen sails catching the sun, while ancient battlements rise from the shoreline in warm ochres and roseate tones. Beyond, an Italianate church with campanile punctuates the skyline, lending architectural rhythm and a sense of timeless permanence to the scene. Hone’s assured brushwork and confident handling of atmosphere convey both the immediacy of obser- vation and a romantic sensibility deeply attuned to place. Hone travelled extensively throughout Europe and the Near East from the 1870s to the early 1890s, jour- neys that profoundly enriched his palette and broad- ened his subject matter. These Mediterranean works reveal another dimension to his practice: a painter responsive to light, antiquity and the picturesque. Born in Dublin, the great-grandson of the celebrat- ed eighteenth-century painter, Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Hone trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London before establishing a distinguished exhibit- ing career in Ireland and Britain. He was elected an Associate of the RHA in 1876 and a full Academician in 1879, becoming a central figure in Irish artistic life at the close of the nineteenth century. This impressive canvas stands as a testament to Hone’s cosmopolitan outlook and technical accom- plishment. At once topographical and evocative, it reflects the late Victorian fascination with the Medi- terranean as a cradle of civilisation, filtered through the discerning eye of one of Ireland’s most accom- plished academic painters.