Boats Moored at River Estuary

Paul Henry's portrayal of the Irish landscape was largely influenced by Whistler and the 19th Century fashion for the Japanese print. The flattening of the picture plane in the present lot illustrates this inspiration. Henry instead used the line of the river bank to create a sense of perspective and spatial depth. A similar composition can be seen in Pierre Puvis de Chavannes' painting The Poor Fisherman, 1881 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris), which Henry was possibly aware of when painting the present lot.

The present work will be included in Dr Brian Kennedy's forthcoming catalogue raisonné, Paul Henry's Paintings, Drawings and Illustrations, listed as number 1106.