Irish & International Art Auction 5th December 2016 : Click Lot Title for More info & Pictures & Picture for in frame.

signed lower right

oil on panel

37 x 25.5cm (14 x 10in)

Provenance:

Purchased from the Cynthia O’Connor Gallery 1980;

Adam’s, Dublin 4th December 2012 Lot 62;

Private Collection

Exhibited:

Exhibition of Recent Acquisitions, Cynthia O’Connor Gallery, May-June 1980, cat. no. 10;

“Ireland: Her People and Landscape’’ The AVA Gallery, June - Sept 2012, Cat. No. 42

Literature: “

Ireland: Her People and Landscape’’ Exhibition Catalogue, illustration p49

€40,000-60,000 (£34,782-52,173)

Walter Osborne spent much of the 1880’s dividing his time between Ireland and England. During several summers he worked in

English villages and small towns, in 1887, for example, in Berkshire and Hampshire. It is possible that the present painting ‘The

Hurdy-Gurdy Player’ is set in Newbury, Berkshire.

Osborne enjoyed observing daily village life, with a cross-section of local people going about their business: walking, shopping or

plying their wares, women chatting, and children going to school, and so on. On the right side there is a group of people, including a

girl with red scarf, a boy with cap and a woman with black scarf. To the left stands the hurdy-gurdy man playing his instrument and

there are other figures in the background.

The hurdy-gurdy was a stringed musical instrument which was played by turning a handle to produce a background drone, and the

pressing of keys to play the tune. The instrument dated to the early middle ages and became popular among travelling musicians in

Savoy and in the low counties in the 17th and 18th Centuries. The player and his instrument aroused the curiosity of some artists,

who represented them in their paintings.

In Osborne’s picture, the street is in shadow, but sunlight falls upon some upper walls and chimney stacks. The artist employs warm

reddish-browns, burnt sienna and amber tones. The figures are painted skilfully, while there are deft horizontal brushstrokes in the

foreground and blurred ‘square-brush’ strokes in the chimney stacks. Interesting architectural features in ‘The Hurdy-Gurdy Player’

are the diagonal ‘hipped’ edge of the high roof, (to protect against high winds), and the tall chimney stacks.

Julian Campbell, November 2016