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Nathaniel Hone, born in 1831, comes from a famous artistic family. He
began his career as a railway engineer and at twenty-one decided to become
a painter, going to Paris in 1853 to study art. He studied under Couture,
an early exponent of Realism who also taught the French painter Manet
the American William Morris Hunt. Hone settled at Barbizon c.1857, remaining
in the Forest for the best part of 13 years, before moving to Bourron-Marlotte,
Brittany, Normandy, Paris, and Italy before returning to Ireland in 1872.
In general, Hone remained a 'Barbizon' painter, with an interest in tone
rather than pure color. In his Irish landscapes there is a predominance
of greens and browns, and his shadows remain dark. His paintings became
increasingly loose and fluid in later landscapes, and he shared with the
Impressionists a love of light; light diffused in the air and pervading
landscape, light reflected off buildings and water, whether the changeable
light of Ireland or the golden light of Venice or Egypt. He developed special
sensitivity to the muted but rich tones of the Irish countryside, and changeable
light on East and West coasts, shafts of sunlight on a field, cloudy skies
at evening or the approach of rain.
| Banks of the Seine |
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Characteristic of Hone, the figures (the two girls, child on the pathway, and
man in the boat), turn away from the viewer, and are observed in the middle-distance.
Recession is expressed in alternating planes of light and shadow. Hone captures
a sense of airiness in the landscape or sultry afternoon sunshine, a transparent
glow in the sky and a suggestion of a breeze stirring the leaves, which
are pleasingly rendered. |
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Banks of the River
Seine, near Paris |
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Hone
referred with characteristic self-effacement to his watercolors as 'little
watery blots'. But they have a freedom and simplicity that is sometimes
lost in his more somber canvases, and may be regarded as an essential part
of his French oeuvre. In this landscape, the forms of trees and boats are
indicated by bold, watery strokes and a sense of airiness, and the summer
temperature is captured with masterly freedom. The curious green blot in
the foreground could almost be a mistake, yet Hone has successfully incorporated
it into the overall composition. |
| The Boundary Fence, Forest
of Fontainebleu, c. 1868 |
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 Hone's Boundary Fence
is small, but considered by some to be his finest Barbizon painting. He
shows a particular, perhaps Irish, sensitivity to different hues of green.
Here a chromatic green is dominant, and richly contrasts the mauve and brown
of deer and tree-trunks. Foliage is sensitively rendered in horizontal flecks,
and the whole canvas is densely worked but in comparison with the broken
surface of Impressionist landscapes, Hone's surface has a flatness and uniformity.
Hone wished to draw our attention to the point where the trees converge
at the edge of the wood, to reveal the silvery gleam of the sky. Hone's
subject is not just the deer but "light." |
| Summer Pastures |
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A View of the Coast (of Clare?) |
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Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow, Sheep
to Pasture, c. 1880 |
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| Boats on the Shore, Malahide |
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Coastal Scene |
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Gathering Seaweed on the Strand,
Malahide |
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| Fishing Boats Returning Home |
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Menton, Evening |
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Yachts at
Sea, 1890 |
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| Storymy Coast, Clare |
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Vista Through Trees |
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A Windy Day, Barbizon |
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References:
- "The Irish Impressionists, Irish Artists
in France and Belgium 1850-1914". Julian Campbell. National Gallery
of Ireland. 1984
- "Irish Painting". Brian P. Kennedy.
Town House, Dublin. 1993.
