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Lot Essay
'A view from the southern shore of Howth looking towards the southern shore of Dublin Bay and onto the Dublin-Wicklow Mountains in the distant haze. In the foreground to the right three men are pulling a small wooden rowing-boat up a beach into a stone boat-house. By comparision, in the distance a steamer, possibly belonging to the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, can be seen making its way out into the Irish Sea, presumably from the North Wall Quay, Holyhead-bound.
Stylistically the work probably dates to about 1912, and has similarities to other works known to be around that date, such as View from the Cliffs of Howth, Across Dublin Bay to the Wicklow Mountains (1912, private collection). These two works seem to complement each other, especially in colour contrasts, with the predominant hues in View from the Cliffs being various shades of earthy browns, yellows and ochres whereas in Bringing in the Boat, greens and blues are to the fore. It was such colour experimentation that was to find such full and powerful expression in many of his war works (Orpen gave the majority of his works executed when he was an Official War Artist to the Imperial War Museum, London, where they still remain). Orpen could not resist introducing a human element in to his landscapes, and just as he has included a single figure resting on the ground in the foreground of View from the Cliffs, so he has introduced men bringing in the boat. In both cases the figures, comparatively small, are almost lost against the backdrop of earth, sea and sky.
The period between 1909-14, when Orpen would spend his summers at Howth, was a time of relaxation for the artist, and perhaps his only bulwark against the mounting pressure that surrounded an up and coming portrait painter breaking into London society. This was a different world, one that alowed him the time to experiment. He loved painting Dublin Bay, with its ever changing skies and moods. In his book Stories of Old Ireland and Myself, he put his deep sentiments about the Bay into words albeit, in this extract, pp.2-3, he describes the sights from the ferry: 'Crossing from Holyhead to Kingstown [now Dún Laoghaire], there is always a thrill for an Irishman when he catches the sight of St. Patrick's Isle; but sometimes only one of relief, for instance, when passing Kish Lightship in a howling gale, and he first sees the blurred lines of the mountains in the grey dawn. Another time dawn over Dublin Bay is a wonderful sight. One wishes to stop the boat and watch this splendour, changing from one beauty to another, the sun touching the hilltops, its rays coming lower and lower, till the spire of Kingstown Church itself is caught by the glory of it. Or arriving in the afternoon with the sun behind the hills, that long irregular line from Bray Head to Hell Fire Club, the bay a mass of sparkling diamonds, and on the right Dublin steeped in a haze of purple mist! One could travel to many corners of the world before finding such pure beauty.''
Stylistically the work probably dates to about 1912, and has similarities to other works known to be around that date, such as View from the Cliffs of Howth, Across Dublin Bay to the Wicklow Mountains (1912, private collection). These two works seem to complement each other, especially in colour contrasts, with the predominant hues in View from the Cliffs being various shades of earthy browns, yellows and ochres whereas in Bringing in the Boat, greens and blues are to the fore. It was such colour experimentation that was to find such full and powerful expression in many of his war works (Orpen gave the majority of his works executed when he was an Official War Artist to the Imperial War Museum, London, where they still remain). Orpen could not resist introducing a human element in to his landscapes, and just as he has included a single figure resting on the ground in the foreground of View from the Cliffs, so he has introduced men bringing in the boat. In both cases the figures, comparatively small, are almost lost against the backdrop of earth, sea and sky.
The period between 1909-14, when Orpen would spend his summers at Howth, was a time of relaxation for the artist, and perhaps his only bulwark against the mounting pressure that surrounded an up and coming portrait painter breaking into London society. This was a different world, one that alowed him the time to experiment. He loved painting Dublin Bay, with its ever changing skies and moods. In his book Stories of Old Ireland and Myself, he put his deep sentiments about the Bay into words albeit, in this extract, pp.2-3, he describes the sights from the ferry: 'Crossing from Holyhead to Kingstown [now Dún Laoghaire], there is always a thrill for an Irishman when he catches the sight of St. Patrick's Isle; but sometimes only one of relief, for instance, when passing Kish Lightship in a howling gale, and he first sees the blurred lines of the mountains in the grey dawn. Another time dawn over Dublin Bay is a wonderful sight. One wishes to stop the boat and watch this splendour, changing from one beauty to another, the sun touching the hilltops, its rays coming lower and lower, till the spire of Kingstown Church itself is caught by the glory of it. Or arriving in the afternoon with the sun behind the hills, that long irregular line from Bray Head to Hell Fire Club, the bay a mass of sparkling diamonds, and on the right Dublin steeped in a haze of purple mist! One could travel to many corners of the world before finding such pure beauty.''