ADAM'S Country House Collections Day II - 28th April 2026

116 593 GEORGE MULLINS (FL.1756 - C.1798) Landscape with Travelling Shepherds Oil on board, 66cm x 90cm This is one of a small group of closely related landscapes which, with four upright scenes showing the times of the day (Office of Pub- lic Works), and a handful of other works, constitute the tiny corpus of certain works (less than a dozen canvasses in total) by the landscape painter George Mullins. Despite this small oeuvre, Mullins is beginning to be better understood as an artist. Clearly related are three landscapes, including one from the collection of the late Patrick Kelly (sold Sothe- by’s, 44 Fitzwilliam Square, 10 Nov. 2020, lot 107, GB£63,000) and one sold by Gorry Gallery (October 2020) which include the same ele- ments of an unusually stark crag silhouetted again the sky, an expanse of water crossed by a bridge and a ruinous tower incorporating gothic architectural elements. Here, the pre- cise handling of the foliage anticipates that associated with Mullins’s great pupil Thomas Roberts (1748-77). This miniaturising tech- nique is not, however, at the expense of an ex- pansive grandeur of conception and attractive tonality. The blue and red details of the figures in the foreground, repeated in the red blanket covering the donkey’s pack, offer a pleasing chromatic contrast to the variegated verdure. This group of travellers and sheep echo very closely (though in reverse) that in the ex-Gorry picture. While it is certainly ‘testament to Mul- lins’s own skills as a landscape painter’ that ‘Roberts became arguably the best Irish land- scape painter of the eighteenth century’ (Nico- la Figgis in AAI, Vol. 2, p. 377), his own highly accomplished, and very rare, works present a distinctive and appealingly harmonious vision, and Mullins is one of the key, if least appreci- ated, figures within the Dublin Group of land- scape painters. € 6,000 - 8,000 594 A FINE IRISH GEORGE III CARD TABLE the rectangular top opening to a green baise lined interior, above a carved apron with cen- tral scallop shell, scrolling acanthus leaf de- sign, raised on acanthus capped legs with claw and ball feet and gate leg action. 74cm high, 87cm wide, 42cm deep (closed) € 6,000 - 8,000