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Born Henry Thaddeus Jones in Cork in 1859, in his early years he appears to have been called Harry Jones, but later, when he became a professional portrait painter, changed his name to Henry Jones Thaddeus. He entered the Cork School of Art under James Brenan. in 1870 when he was only ten years old. He won the Taylor Prize in 1878 enabling him to go to London, and then again in 1979 enabling him to continue his studies in Paris at the Academie Julian. He was taught by Boulanger and Lefebvre. Thaddeus left Paris for Brittany in early summer 1881, moving shortly to the medieval walled city of Concarneau which had an artists' colony.

In common with some other Irish artists, Thaddeus regarded painting from nature as a happy interlude between studying in the ateliers, and getting down to the serious business of earning a living.

The Wounded Poacher, 1881

In 1881 Thaddeus sent a Parisian scene to an exhibition at the Royal Dublin Society, and he also had a picture accepted at the Paris Salon. This was Le Retour du Bracconier, known in English as The Wounded Poacher. This highly-finished canvas is a 'tour-de-force' of contemporary Realism, but there are echoes of Victorian narrative painting. Thaddeus attempts an ambitious and emotional subject, the receding figure of the wounded poacher in a dark cabin full of objects, with confidence. The poacher's hat and gun, the rabbits dropped on the ground, and the over-turned chair, tell of commotion. The sprawled, weathered figure of the man in contrasted by the pale, soft figure of the woman who tends him. He appears almost a soldier returned, a wounded hero. Her calm contrasts his pain, perhaps symbolizing the different roles of man and woman. There are echoes of early Millet in the pose of the girl and in the dramatic subject matter, and Thaddeus may be making a social comment. The objects on the table, (a half filled bottle, a glass, a bowl and a clay pipe), and on the ground (basket, cabbage leaves and stray carrots), tell of the simple life of peasants and the earthy colors suit the subject. Thaddeus's manner varies according to different sections of the picture: it is soft and blurred in the face and shoulders of the girl and smooth and 'academic' in the arm of the man; then, parallel flecks of paint indicate the rough texture of the man's trousers, while the floor is impastoed and encrusted, paint becoming one with the earth. The artist seeks anxiously to sustain the interest of his viewers by the use of details: the long-handled spoon hanging on the wall by the fireplace, the poacher's loose shoelaces, the raised vein on his arms, the makeshift extension to the table leg, the carrots and cabbage that have fallen from a basket, the flower pots in the small window.

Young Breton Fisher Boy, 1881		Market Day, Finistere, 1882
In summer 1881, Thaddeus visited Brittany, settling in Concarneau and began making studies of figures. "Breton Fisher Boy" is a charming, small painting of a figure in sunshine on the beach. Thaddeus contrasts the orange jersey against the blue of the sea. The same boy appears in Thaddeus's grand Breton composition "Market Day, Finistere", a scene of many figures upon the beach at Concarneau. Market Day was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882, a remarkable success for the youthful Cork artist, and is now in the National Gallery of Ireland.

An Adriatic Coast Scene, 1884   On the Beach, 1882   Portrait of a Young Lady Standing in a Fur-lined Coat, 1891

References:

1. "The Irish Impressionists, Irish Artists in France and Belgium 1850-1914". Julian Campbell. National Gallery of Ireland. 1984.
2. "Onlookers in France, Irish Realist and Impressionist Painters". Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork. 1993.

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