A mountain landscape, with a man in red at rest on a riverbank, a bridge beyond
Oil on canvas
Enclosed in a gilt frame
James Arthur O'Connor (Irish, 1792-1841) was the foremost Irish landscape painter of the early nineteenth-century. He was the son of William O'Connor, a print seller and engraver. Apart from receiving some tuition from the landscape painter, William Sadler II (Irish, 1782-1839), O'Connor was largely self-taught. He commenced exhibiting his works at the Dublin Society in 1809. In 1813 he travelled to England with his friends, Francis Danby, ARA (Irish, 1793-1861) and George Petrie, PRHA (Irish, 1790-1866). They first visited London, but Petrie soon returned to Ireland. Danby and O'Connor travelled to Bristol, but soon after O'Connor returned home for family commitments. Danby remained and became an important Member of "the Bristol School" of painters. In 1818-19 O'Connor worked at Westport House for his client, the Marquis of Sligo. Here he painted a series of views of the house and environs. These pictures remain, to this day, at Westport House. In 1821 he returned to England with his wife. During this time he worked in Sussex and views of the coast and Arundel are recorded.I n 1826 he travelled to Belgium and in 1833 to Paris, where he painted for King Louis-Philippe (1773-1850). He then journeyed to Germany and painted views of the Rhine valley. He returned to England and died at his residence in Marlborough Street, London on 7 January 1841.
O'Connor exhibited four works at the Royal Hibernian Academy, twenty-one at the Royal Academy, six at the British Institution, and twenty-six at Suffolk Street. Fifteen works by O'Connor can be seen at the National Gallery of Ireland who also hold a collection of his work executed in pencil and pen and ink. Additional works can be seen at the Ulster Museum; the Victoria & Albert Museum; the Sheffield Art Gallery; and the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.
O'Connor's wooded landscape scenes are painted in the Romantic Style and show the influence of the seventeenth-century artist, Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628-82), and the landscape artist, Salvator Rosa (Italian, 1615-73).
See also Lot 2005 and 2010.

Dimensions:11¼ x 16 inches (28.5 x 40.5 cm.)