Lot 3036
GEORGE BARRET, RA
IRISH, 1728/32-1784
CLASSICAL RIVER LANDSCAPE WITH SHEEP AND ANGLERS, BALLYGARTH CASTLE IN THE BACKGROUND
Oil on canvas
Catalogue note:
In more than two and a half centuries, this is only the second time that this large and impressive work by George Barret has been offered at auction. From about 1760, when it was painted, until September 1980, it hung in either the Drawing Room or the Dining Room of Ballygarth Castle, County Meath, in Ireland.
Ballygarth Castle, strategically positioned above the Nanny Water, was initially built by the Netterville family in the twelfth century, but four centuries later they lost it in the political turmoil of the 1640s. It was granted to Colonel George Pepper and he managed to retain possession when it was forfeited in the Williamite Wars later in the century. The castle, which appears, peeping about the trees, in the left middle distance of Barret's painting, has been substantially remodelled over the centuries. A plain, two-storey Georgian block was added in 1782, which was castellated in 1867. A billiard room was added in 1889. The previous lot in the 1980 sale of the contents of Ballygarth Castle, portraying Ballygarth church, was catalogued simply as Irish School, but was, in fact, a further, and characteristic, specimen of Barret's Irish period. The topographically accurate view of the church indicates that Barret painted at Ballygarth, and suggests that both works were commissioned by the Pepper family directly from the artist, rather than being acquired by a later generation of the family. His patron was Thomas Pepper (1733-1800), a Member of Parliament for Kells, County Meath, who was connected by birth and political interest to the Taylor family, Earls of Bective from nearby Headfort who were also important early patrons of Barret.
The Ballygarth landscape can be dated quite precisely to towards the end of Barret's early period in Ireland in the 1760s. In the years immediately preceding his departure for London, Barret seems to have been exceptionally busy and was receiving patronage from the most exalted levels of Irish society. A large and ambitious landscape, it is a typically accomplished example of Barret's Irish period and shows several of the recurring structural characteristics for which he was so admired by his contemporaries: a dominating tree, a passage of water and a distant view to mountains. All are enlivened by diminutive figures, which, over the course of his period in Ireland, evolve from rococo Italianate to more substantial fishermen or travellers.
Barret's art of this period can be seen as a fruitful combination of the direct exposure to the breathtaking scenery of Ireland and his close study of the classical landscape tradition. The artist was to articulate the importance of these twin sources of inspiration in a letter to a young artist 'paint from nature not forgetting art at the same time'. It is in lush, romantic landscapes - and resolutely Irish - works such as this that he made his most original contribution to landscape art and certainly this is the period of his art that has been most cherished by collectors. Here in this magnificent landscape from Ballygarth Castle can be seen the grandeur of conception and boldness of execution that led his friend James Barry to characterize Barret, with forgivable hyperbole, as 'a superior genius to Claude'.
We are grateful to William Laffan for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
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Provenance:
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Commissioned by Thomas Pepper (1733-1800) of Ballygarth Castle, County Meath; by descent in the family until their sale; Adam and Sons, Dublin 2 September 1980, "The Contents of Ballygarth Castle, Julianstown, County Meath," lot 25 illus. as "An extensive river landscape with sheep and anglers at riverside and large house among trees;" purchased from the above by Valentine Dillon; purchased from the above by Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., Baltimore, September 4 1981: the Estate of Diana Edwards Murnaghan
Dimensions:
- 50 x 69 in. (127 x 175.3 cm.), Frame: 53 x 71 1/2 in. (134.6 x 181.6 cm.) Artist Name:
- GEORGE BARRET, RA Exhibited:
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"An Irish Perspective: Paintings from the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, March 17-April 26, 1983, no. 2 as "Landscape"
"Eire/LAND," McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, February 2- May 19, 2003, p. 164, no. 22 illus. as "Extensive Landscape"
Literature:
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Crookshank-Glin Collection (Digital Image Collection), Triarc Research Center - Department of History of Art and Architecture - Trinity College Dublin, George Barret the elder (Irish Landscapist, 1728/1732-1794) Ballygarth Castle, Nanny water River, illus.
Medium:
- Oil on canvas Condition:
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The work has been lined.
There is inpaint scattered around the sky and the foreground of the painting.
There is inpaint in the buildings on the left in the mid-ground.
The varnish has blanched.
(see attached images taken under uv black light)
For a detailed condition report please request more information.
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