Adam's The Irish Library Wednesday 17th April 2019

112 142 ERSKINE NICOL RSA ARA (1825-1904) Prayers at the High Cross Oil on canvas, 98 x 72cm Signed and Dated 1851 lower right Exhibited: Royal Scottish Academy, 1857, no. 187. € 8,000 - 12,000 7KH ORFDWLRQ RI 1LFROȇV SDLQWLQJ EDUHV VRPH VLPLODULWLHV ZLWK WKH PRQDVWHU\ DW &ORQPDFQRLVH LQ &R 2΍DO\ ZKLFK DIWHU PDQ\ FHQWXULHV RI DWWDFNV ZDV ȴQDOO\ GHVWUR\HG E\ WKH (QJOLVK JDUULVRQ LQ $WKORQH LQ DV SDUW RI WKH GLVVROXWLRQ RI the monasteries. The round tower in the background strongly resembles O’Rourke’s tower, whose cap is missing after the structure was struck by lightning during a storm in 1135. 1LFRO D 6FRWVPDQ E\ ELUWK VSHQW PDQ\ \HDUV LQ ΖUHODQG ȴUVW YLVLWLQJ LQ +H HVWDEOLVKHG D ORQJVWDQGLQJ UHODWLRQ - VKLS ZLWK WKH FRXQWU\ DQG WKLV ZRUN PD\ UHȵHFW KLV V\PSDWK\ WRZDUGV WKH ΖULVK SHRSOH ZKRVH UHOLJLRQ DQG GH IDFWR culture had been systematically destroyed by English colonisation. The focal point of the painted composition and in turn the attention of its subjects is the high cross. It is most likely a depiction of the Cross of the Scriptures, which is one of the most skilfully executed carving of the surviving high cross- es in Ireland. Nicol has positioned it at an angle to give us full view of the detailed carving on the side panels, casting the centre of the cross in shadow. Instead the light falls on the individuals kneeling in devotion around the base. While QR GLDORJXH LV EHLQJ VSRNHQ WKHUH LV DQ LQWHQVH H[SUHVVLRQ RI WKH LQQHU FRPPXQLRQ EHWZHHQ WKH IDLWKIXO DV WKH\ R΍HU their prayers up to the cross. 2QH FDQQRW LJQRUH WKH YLVXDO UHIHUHQFH WR FUXFLȴ[LRQ SDLQWLQJV LQ WKH SUHVHQW H[DPSOH 7KH ȴJXUH RI \RXQJ ZRPDQ to the left of the composition is visually reminiscent of depictions of Mary Magdalene clinging to the foot of the cross. Overcome with emotion, her hat discarded on the ground, she fallen forward, her forehead resting on the stone plinth. The carving on the cross itself depicts scenes from the scriptures, including Christ’s death. The episodic nature of the GHFRUDWLRQ FXOPLQDWHV LQ WKH FHQWUDO PRWLI RI &KULVW ZLWK KLV DUPV RXWVWUHWFKHG VKLHOGLQJ WZR ȴJXUHV 2QO\ RQH ȴJXUH LV VWDQGLQJ VHW DSDUW LQ PDQ\ ZD\V IURP KHU JHQXȵHFWLQJ FRPSDQLRQV :KLOH WKH\ FORVH WKHLU H\HV DQG ERZ WKHLU KHDGV LQ TXLHW UHȵHFWLRQ VKH VWDQGV VWDULQJ GHȴDQWO\ DW WKH FURVV :KLOH ZH DUH GHQLHG WKH YLVXDO GUDPD RI WKH FUXFLȴHG ERG\ RI &KULVW WKH FURVV DFWV D V\PEROLF UHPLQGHU RI WKDW VDFULȴFH 7KH ZRPDQ ZKR LV VWDQGLQJ VLPLODU WR WKH 9LUJLQ 0DU\ȇV UROH LQ FUXFLȴ[LRQ SDLQWLQJV EHDUV ZLWQHVV WR WKLV VX΍HULQJ LQWHUFHGLQJ RQ RXU EHKDOI DQG WKDW RI the faithful gathered around her. Nicol enlivens the scene with his characteristic eye for detail. The elderly gentleman leaning on his cane for support, his coat worn thin with age, and the faintest glimpse of red handkerchief peeking out from one of the pockets. Or the young woman seated behind him, rosary beads clasped between her hands, still wearing her apron, whose edges are fraying. These are ordinary, working peasants, whose life and customs were the focus of much of Nicol’s artistic output while in Ireland. He exhibited this painting at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1857, showing a version of Irish identity that was not inclined towards caricature of the ‘stage Irishman’ but moving towards the Realist tradition of his European coun- WHUSDUWV 7KH GHYHORSPHQW RI WKH &HOWLF UHYLYDO LQ WKH V VDZ D FDOO IRU PRUH VSHFLȴFDOO\ ΖULVK DUW DV H[SUHVVHG E\ Thomas Davis, one of the founders of the Young Ireland who claimed that painting ought to be “a pictorial history of our houses, arts, costume and manners”. (Murray, Peter (ed), “Realism versus Romanticism in Framing National Identi- ty”, Whipping the Herring, Survival and Celebration in Nineteenth-Century Irish Art, Murray, Cork: Crawford Art Gallery and Gandon Editions, 2006, p. 11)