Despite his artistic and literary eminence during his time, Jervas remains a relatively overlooked figure within both British and Irish art history. His reputation as a painter waned during the 1730s, when he became better known for his literary translations of French, Spanish and Italian literature. After his return from nine years travelling and living mainly in Rome, around 1709 Jervas established a successful portrait studio and painted for the likes of King George II, Queen Caroline and Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. Jervas was born in Dublin around 1675, and lived in London from the mid-1690s where he trained with Sir Godfrey Kneller (a court painter to English and British monarchs from Charles II to George I).
In the exhibition’s catalogue, Julian Campbell notes about Webb’s painting: “The small picture is a charming plein air scene of a Breton girl in an orchard, a popular subject in the period… Webb’s use of broken brushstrokes and her interest in dappled sunlight and shadow, suggest an interest in Impressionism at this time, particularly in Pissarro’s evocative pictures of peasant girls, dating from the early 1880’s.” You can watch a video introducing the exhibition and its artists here. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, in 2014, alongside works by the likes of Sarah Purser (1848-1943) and Margaret Clarke (1884-1961). One of her paintings, ‘Girl in an Orchard (Under the Apple Blossom)’, featured in ‘Irish Women Artists 1870-1970’, an exhibition held at St. Her paintings often depict young children in rural settings, with a focus on working life. Ives, Cornwall: their house served as a meeting place for friends and other painters. Webb and her husband Henry Harewood Robinson (who was also a painter) went on to be a central part of an artists’ group in St. In the following years Webb regularly visited Brittany the paintings she made during this period were later exhibited in galleries in London, Dublin, Liverpool and at the Paris Salon in 1883-84. She went to Paris in 1880, where she was the student of Robert-Fleury (a French painter known for his historical scenes) women artists were not allowed entry into the RHA schools until the 1890s. Although the subject of this painting is seemingly simple and ordinary, the fact that we can ask so many questions about this painting is testament to Osborne’s artistic skills when documenting working class life in Ireland at the time.īorn in Northern Ireland and then migrating to Dublin, Webb started exhibiting her work at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) in Dublin in 1873.
The two men have very different attitudes: the man with a cane is dressed more smartly in a black cape and bowler hat, with a basket at his feet, whereas the other man hangs his head towards the floor with his arms crossed, as if curling in on himself (a pose suggestive of tiredness, or perhaps despair). It is unclear what their relation is to each other: based on what they are wearing, it would seem that the little boy (barefoot and wearing ragged brown clothes) is there with his mother and younger sibling, since she also wears tattered clothes and stares forward with a gaunt, hardened look. His painting ‘In a Dublin Park, Light and Shade’ (made around 1895) shows two old men, a young woman holding her baby, and a little boy all sitting next to each other on a bench. Osborne’s depictions of ordinary working people give us a glimpse into a world of both hardship and comradery towards the end of the 19th century.
Like many of his contemporaries, Osborne travelled as a young man, spending time as an art student in Antwerp, rural England and Brittany it was in Brittany that he became familiar with the style of the Impressionists. Osborne was an Irish landscape and portrait painter best known for his impressionist and Post-Impressionist documentary paintings of working class life in late 19th-century Dublin and across both rural Ireland and France.
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