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Lot Essay
In 1967, Justin O'Brien moved to Rome, where he lived until his death in 1996. The city proved the ideal base for the artist to explore the work of the Italian masters, particularly Piero della Francesca and Duccio di Buoninsegna (active 1278-1318), whose painting gave O'Brien in 1949 what he would later identify as his first real "proper aesthetic experience, the first time I really felt design and colour" (C. France, Justin O'Brien, Sydney, 1987, p.17). After moving to Italy, O'Brien also developed an intense love of the Tuscan countryside, which formed another important influence on his work, increasing his interest in naturalism and the almost scientific depiction of plants and landscape.
These influences coalesce in O'Brien's triptych, which brings the inspiration of these Italian masters to the turn of the twenty-first century. A frescoed centre panel with an image of the Annunciation is partially obscured by a vase overflowing with roses and wildflowers. O'Brien commented of his predilection for painting religious subject matter that "it gives the possibility of another dimension to my work it gives you more scope to open up the composition." (Ibid, p.35). Indeed, here, the Archangel's message of grace to the Madonna is echoed by the bounty of an Italian summer: a still life arrangement of exquisitely painted grapes, figs and pears sits on the tabletop. On the left panel, a young boy stands gazing out of the window onto the rocky landscape; on the right, a hillside town crowned by the dome of a church.
The triptych synthesises the most evocative characteristics of O'Brien's subject matter. His exquisite use of colour and the complex construction of the work mark it out as a definitive work in the artist's oeuvre.
These influences coalesce in O'Brien's triptych, which brings the inspiration of these Italian masters to the turn of the twenty-first century. A frescoed centre panel with an image of the Annunciation is partially obscured by a vase overflowing with roses and wildflowers. O'Brien commented of his predilection for painting religious subject matter that "it gives the possibility of another dimension to my work it gives you more scope to open up the composition." (Ibid, p.35). Indeed, here, the Archangel's message of grace to the Madonna is echoed by the bounty of an Italian summer: a still life arrangement of exquisitely painted grapes, figs and pears sits on the tabletop. On the left panel, a young boy stands gazing out of the window onto the rocky landscape; on the right, a hillside town crowned by the dome of a church.
The triptych synthesises the most evocative characteristics of O'Brien's subject matter. His exquisite use of colour and the complex construction of the work mark it out as a definitive work in the artist's oeuvre.