Nathaniel Hone RHA (1831 - 1917) Cows Sheltering Under Trees Oil on canvas, 63.5 x 91.5cm (25 x 36) Signed with initials Provenance: With Godolphin Gallery, Dublin, label verso; Sale, de Veres, 31 May 1994, lot 83; again de Vere’s, 23rd November 2004, lot 37; Irish Sale, Sotheby’s, London 19 November 2019, lot 50. A small herd of cattle rests in the shade of trees, some of them standing, others lying down, while other cows approach from the sunlit field. Nathaniel Hone represents this tranquil rural scene on a sultry summer’s day, and the verdant foliage on the right takes up much of the composition. But the sunny pasture on the left, and the low horizon line, with the possible suggestion of sea beyond, beneath a sky of light cloud with patches of blue, also evoke a sense of space. Having studied in Paris as a young man in the 1850’s, then lived for many years near the Forest of Fontainebleau, Hone became a dedicated painter of landscape, often of woodland and coastal scenes. Back in Ireland he settled in North Co. Dublin, residing in large houses in Malahide and Raheny. According to art historian Thomas Bodkin (later Director of the National Gallery of Ireland): “He lived there quietly, occupying himself with painting and farming” (1). Although, on his travels Hone had represented dramatic cliff and seascapes in the West of Ireland, sunlit coastal scenes in the south of France, and ancient buildings in Greece and Egypt, at home in North Co. Dublin, fields, woods and farm animals often viewed under overcast skies, provided the source for many of his paintings – such humble subjects, often overlooked by other artists, exerted a deep affection upon Hone, and he painted many variations on this theme. Perhaps painted on his land at Seafield, Malahide or St. Doulough’s, Raheny. Cattle Sheltering Under Trees is one such subject, a quintessential pastoral painting by Hone, it may date from the mid 1890’s. He eschews the careful manner of his Barbizon canvases, and indeed the detail of contemporary Victorian landscapes, for as much broader, more vigorous style, to capture the changing light of the Irish weather. The brindled forms of the cows, for instance, are boldly modelled, the thick greenery of the foliage, rendered in muted green and olive tones, are painted in swirling or scuffed gestural brushstrokes, and impasto is employed on the tree trunks to indicate their rough, sunlit textures. Cattle Sheltering Under Trees is painted on one of Hone’s large 24 x 36-inch canvases and is signed with his initials, so was evidently prepared for exhibition. A companion picture on a similar large canvas is his Study - Cows in a Field. Julian Campbell, August 2022. Thomas Bodkin, Four Irish Landscapes Painters, Dublin and London, 1920, p53