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45 Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) In the Western Mountains (c.1934-9)signed ‘PAUL HENRY’ lower right
oil on board
25.5 x 30.5cm (10 x 12in)
Provenance:
Combridge Fine Art, Dublin (label verso);
Private Collection
€60,000-80,000 (£52,173-69,565)
A late work by Paul Henry with thin paint applied, notably in
the sky, but treated directly and with little or no overpainting,
which adds to the appeal of the scene. Indeed this is true of the
whole canvas. In the mountains the paint has been applied a little
more heavily, but just enough to indicate the direction of light,
although in the cottages and the immediate foreground the paint
is heavier and has been applied briskly nonetheless. All this con-
tributes to the sense of recession and shows Henry at the height
of his powers. Throughout good use has been made of the grain
of the canvas. The paint, as usual with Henry, has been applied
methodically in the thatch of the cottage roofs and in the fore-
ground, for example which also suggests a date of c. 1934-9.
The work is a good example of Henry’s later work in which the
landscape has been handled in an almost iconic manner. In the
Western Mountains is numbered 1308 in S. B. KennedyÕs ongo-
ing cataloguing of Henry’s oeuvre.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy, November 2016